


Daddy Application

by Reading_Nut_Cassirole



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:22:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 23,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27872226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reading_Nut_Cassirole/pseuds/Reading_Nut_Cassirole
Summary: A man took advantage of Temari, and four years later, her son meets the man that she has liked since the day she met him. Unknown to her though, her son had made an application to find a father, and said man filled it out.
Relationships: Nara Shikamaru/Temari
Comments: 3
Kudos: 29





	Daddy Application

**Author's Note:**

> The first part of this story does have a bit of sexual content in it, as well as a couple parts later in the story, so beware of that. Nothing too explicit though, so hopefully those of you who don't like that kind of stuff will still give this story a chance.

Temari was running through the forest at her top speed. It was almost dark and it looked like it was going to start raining any minute. She was looking for some kind of shelter before that happened, but wasn’t having much luck.

As she watched the trees pass her by, it reminded her of the chunin exams she participated in a month ago. The second test where they had to survive for five days in a forest with several other teams, and her single fight with that boy from Konoha. She couldn’t remember his name, but she was impressed that he actually beat her. He seemed like an easy opponent at first, but turned out to be smarter than she thought.

She shook her head to get rid of the memory. She felt something wet hit her face and she looked up. “Crap.” After another few seconds, it started pouring. She ran to what looked like a cave in the side of a hill.

She took off her bag and fan and placed it on the ground. She shivered a little at the temperature of the small cave air hitting her wet skin and clothes. She turned and looked out the entrance. _‘Well, this is just great. Looks like I’m not going anywhere for a while.’_

A light suddenly appeared behind her and she spun around quickly to see a man sitting next to a fire. _‘When did…? I didn’t even sense his presence.’_

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you,” the man said.

“I didn’t realize there was someone else in here,” Temari said.

The man chuckled, which made Temari feel uneasy for some reason. “Sorry. I have a habit of masking my chakra when I’m out. Why not join me?”

Temari thought about it for a second, but the second shiver that racked her body made her move toward the warm flame. She sat down on the opposite side of the man.

“So, where you from?” the man asked.

Temari looked at him with a bit of a scowl.

He held up his hands. “Whoa, clam down. I’m just trying to make small talk.” Temari remained silent. “Can I at least know your name?” he asked.

Temari thought about it, but finally said, “Temari.”

“Temari. That’s a nice name. I’m Kento,” the man replied relaxing a bit. “You’re a shinobi, right? I mean, I assume that’s your headband around your neck, right?”

Temari looked down at the headband then back at Kento. “If you saw that, why did you ask where I was from?”

“Because I can’t see the symbol on it,” Kento replied. “But you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want. So, you on a mission?”

“Yeah, returning from one actually,” Temari said relaxing a little.

“You alone?”

“Yeah, this is my first solo mission.”

“So you’re a chunin,” he stated more than asked.

“No, still a genin. I took the chunin exams, but something happened and I don’t think anyone was promoted,” she replied.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” the guy said. “Do you think you would’ve been promoted if whatever happened didn’t happen?”

“I think so, but it’s not really up to me, so I don’t know,” Temari replied. “I mean, I have been on higher ranking missions than most genin, so…”

“So naturally you would think you’d get promoted.”

Temari smiled. “Yeah.”

“Well, I’m sure you’d be a great chunin.”

“Thanks.”

Kento got up and walked around the fire and over to the entrance, Temari keeping a close eye on him. “Doesn’t look like it’s going to let up anytime soon, huh?”

“No,” Temari said. She got that uneasy feeling inside her again.

Kento turned around with a smile on his face. “Guess that means we’ll have more time to get to know each other.”

Temari tried to reach down for one of her kunai, but suddenly felt something around her wrist. When she looked down, she saw what looked like mud wrapped around her wrist. “What the…” She felt something wrap around her other wrist and saw that it was more mud. She looked up at Kento.

“Like my jutsu?” Kento said walking toward her. “I call it ‘Mud Cuff Jutsu.’”

Temari glared at him. “Let me go, now!”

He squatted down in front of her and placed his hand on her cheek. “I don’t think so.”

Temari jerked her head away from his hand and pulled at the two mud cuffs. “Don’t touch me!”

Kento grabbed Temari’s chin and turned it back toward him. “I’ll do whatever I want to you.” He leaned forward and kissed her.

Temari tried to turn her head again, but his hand on her chin forced her head to remain in place. She squeezed her eyes closed and kept her mouth clamped shut so he couldn’t invade it with his tongue.

The cuffs on her wrists began moving back and pulled her so that she fell on her back. They continued to move above her head until they met and fused together.

Kento followed her down and was now on top of her, lips still together. The shock of the fall made Temari cry out, which gave Kento the opportunity to invade her mouth with his tongue.

Temari closed her eyes tight again when she felt his tongue exploring her mouth. She felt his hands fondling her breast under her shirt, squeezing and massaging it, pinching the nipple. She hated it and tried to scream, but it only came out as a loud moan, so she bit down on his tongue. She spat out his blood when he jerked away from her.

Kento looked down at Temari angrily and slapped her across the face. “Don’t you dare do that again,” he said.

“I won’t let you rape me,” Temari said trying to free her hands again.

Kento pulled a kunai out of his weapon pouch on the side of his leg and pushed it against Temari’s throat. “I’ll do whatever I want to you.”

Temari felt something wrap around her ankles. She managed to catch a glimpse and saw that it was more mud cuffs. She also felt something slide up her neck. It felt slimy just like the cuffs on her wrists and ankles. She tried to move her head to shake it off, but it didn’t do any good. The mud finally stopped once it covered her mouth.

“There,” Kento said. “That should hold you.”

Temari tried struggling again, but when she realized it wasn’t doing anything, she decided to just glare at him.

“That won’t help you,” he said. He leaned back down by her ear. “You’re mine now.”

Temari felt his hands exploring her body again. Out of instinct, she tried struggling to get his hands off, but it still didn’t do any good.

When he put his hands under her shirt and started fondling her breasts, she tried to scream, but the mud kept the noise locked in her mouth.

Before she knew it, her shirt had been ripped off and he was now sucking on her hard nipples. She hated it and wanted to punch him in the face, but the mud kept her hands firmly in place.

Everything was now happening so fast. His hands and mouth roaming her naked upper body, one hand trailing up her leg and to her womanhood. When she felt his finger slide into her, she squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her fists. Pain shot through her body as he added two more fingers. She felt something tear inside her and tried to suppress the scream. Her lower half felt like it was on fire. She had always wondered what it would feel like, but she never thought it would hurt this much.

Kento groaned and got up, pulling his fingers from her throbbing hole. She watched as he unzipped his pants and pulled out his huge member.

Temari’s eyes went wide. _‘No way that will fit! He’ll tear me apart!’_

Kento smiled at the horrified look on Temari’s face. “You’re going to take all of it.”

Temari again tried to struggle, muffled screams escaping her mouth which only made Kento laugh.

The mud pulled on Temari’s ankles, making her legs spread out, and Kento positioned his member over her dripping hole. Without any warning, he shoved his member deep inside her.

Temari’s eyes went wide and she screamed. She felt like her body was being ripped in half. She had never felt pain like this in her life, not even on the worst mission she’d been on.

Her body was starting to go numb. She figured it was her body’s way of counteracting the pain it was feeling. She could hear his moans and sounds of his member sliding in and out of her, their skins slapping together.

Her mind was starting to fog. She couldn’t feel anything, and the sounds that were making her sick were slowly disappearing.

She felt something warm. It was filling her. An uncomfortable warmth. She knew it wasn’t good, knew she should be mad, but her mind was just blank now. She felt absolutely nothing.

oOo

Temari had been missing all night. Kankuro and Gaara, along with several other sand shinobi, were searching the route they thought Temari would’ve taken to get back to the village. They had been searching for almost two hours now with no luck.

“Do you think something happened to her?” Kankuro asked his brother.

“Would there be another reason she wouldn’t return?” Gaara replied.

Kankuro paused. “True.” He looked around and saw some dried footprints on the ground. He jumped down from the tree he was on, Gaara following. “Footprints.”

Gaara stared at the prints. “Do you think they’re Temari’s?”

“Uh, I have no idea, but if they’re here, it must have rained recently,” Kankuro said.

“And?” Gaara said crossing his arms.

“That means Temari might have taken shelter somewhere to get out of the rain.”

“But these prints are dry,” Gaara replied. “She would’ve continued her journey once it stopped.”

“Not if it was too late,” Kankuro said.

Gaara looked down in thought. “But wouldn’t she have left when she woke up and reached the village?”

Kankuro scowled. “Yeah.” He looked around for someplace that looked like a shelter Temari could’ve used.

“There is a cave a few feet from here,” Gaara said.

“Huh?” Kankuro said. He saw Gaara holding one of his eyes and realized Gaara was using his third eye technique. “Lead the way.”

Gaara nodded and jumped back into the trees. After a few minutes, they saw an opening in the side of a hill.

They walked in the entrance, but it was dark so they couldn’t see anything, but they did feel someone’s presence.

Kankuro pulled out a flare and lit it. The light filled the surrounding area and they caught a glimpse of something on the ground. When they moved closer, they saw that it was Temari, completely naked.

“Oh crap,” Kankuro said.

Both boys rushed to Temari’s side and knelt down beside her. Gaara used his sand to make a blanket.

Kankuro placed two fingers on her neck and sighed with relief when he felt the pulse. “She’s alive.”

“Temari, can you hear us?” Gaara asked.

Temari slowly opened her eyes. She looked up at her brothers and tears escaped her eyes. She tried to curl up underneath the warm sand, but stopped when pain shot through her body. She let out a small cry of pain.

“Whoa, don’t move, Tem,” Kankuro said. He looked up at Gaara. “I think you should use your sand to carry her back to the village.

Gaara nodded and stood up. He reached out his hand and made the sand carefully wrap around Temari’s body. He carefully lifted her off the ground and they all headed out of the cave.

Kankuro shot something up in the air to let the other shinobi know that Temari had been found, then followed Gaara and Temari back to the village.

Now that he could see her better, Kankuro saw dark bruises on Temari’s face. He also saw that her hair was completely out of her usually pigtails and it was covered with something. He recognized what that stuff was and paled. He knew what Temari went through, and knew this was going to be a long recovery for her.

oOo

**4 Years Later**

Temari was tired. She just got back from a meeting in Konoha that took much longer than anticipated. Now all she wanted to do was take a long bath and got to bed.

She already talked with Gaara, who was now the Kazekage of the Suna, and was now on her way home. She stopped by a couple of the market stalls to get something for supper, then continued on her way.

She walked in the house and straight to the kitchen to put the food away. It was still morning, so she had plenty of time to rest before she had to make dinner.

“Mommy!”

Temari turned and saw a small, blonde haired boy running toward her. She smiled and sat the bags on the counter, then knelt down and opened her arms wide. “Hey, Koji.”

Koji plowed into Temari, nearly knocking her over, and snuggled into her chest. “I missed you, mommy.”

Temari wrapped her arms around him and picked him up. “I missed you, too.” She sat Koji on the edge of the counter. She saw Matsuri walk in the kitchen from the corner of her eye, but didn’t turn away from Koji. “Were you good for Matsuri and your uncles while I was gone?”

Koji nodded. “Yeah. I was very good.”

“Oh really,” Temari said glancing up at Matsuri. “Is he telling the truth, Matsuri?”

Matsuri smiled and walked closer. “Yeah, he was really good, but he did cry himself to sleep the last couple nights because he missed you.”

Temari looked down at Koji sadly. “I’m sorry, sweetie. I wasn’t planning on being gone that long.”

Koji lurched forward and wrapped his arms around Temari the best he could. “Don’t go again.”

Temari wrapped her arms around him. “I wish I could promise you that, but it’s my duty.” Koji buried his head even more in Temari’s chest. “But I will promise that it won’t happen again for a while. Will that be good enough?”

Koji lifted his head and smiled. “Yeah.”

Temari smiled, kissed him on the top of his head, and put him back on the floor. “Good. Now, why don’t you help me put the food away and then we can go play.”

“Yeah!” Koji said jumping up and down.

“Guess I’ll head out then,” Matsuri said.

“Thanks again for helping Gaara and Kankuro watch him. I shudder to think what would happen if he was alone with those two.”

Matsuri laughed. “It was no problem at all. Let me know if you need any more help.”

“I will,” Temari said. She turned to Koji. “Say goodbye to Matsuri, Koji.”

Koji ran up to Matsuri and plowed into her legs, wrapping his arms around them. “Bye, bye.”

Matsuri placed a hand on the back of Koji’s head and smiled. “See ya, Kiddo.”

Koji ran back over to his mother and he and Temari started putting away the food as Matsuri left.

Once they got everything put away, Temari picked Koji up and took him to his room. She sat him down on the ground and he instantly ran towards his toy chest and pulled out several different toys. Temari smiled and sat down on the floor at the end of Koji’s bed and leaned back against the bed.

Koji brought toy after toy to Temari and they played with one for a few minutes before Koji decided to play with another.

oOo

Gaara walked into the house expecting to smell food, but the only thing he smelled was the mustiness of the house. _‘I’ll have to open the windows later.’_ He walked down the hall to Temari’s room, but didn’t see her there. He knew she was home because Matsuri stopped by the office to see him not long after Temari had reported in.

He frowned and turned to head down the hall again. He walked over to Koji’s room, and saw Koji playing with his building blocks. When he saw Temari, he smiled.

Temari was leaned up against the foot of Koji’s bed, head cocked in what he thought would be an uncomfortable position, and a blanket draped over her. It made the sight even cuter when he saw the teddy bear laying on top of her. She looked like a peaceful child sleeping.

Koji sensed his uncle and looked over at him. He gave Gaara a big smile. “Hi.”

Gaara walked into the room and over to Koji. “Hello, Koji.” He knelt down in front of Koji and placed his hand on Koji’s head and ruffled his sandy blonde hair.”

“Mommy fell asleep,” Koji said.

“I see that. She must’ve been tired from her journey to and from Konoha,” Gaara replied.

“Ungle Gaara, I’m hungry,” Koji said.

“I am too,” Gaara replied. “How about we wake your mommy and get her to make us some food.”

Koji nodded, stood up, and went over to Temari. “Mommy, I’m hungry. Get up,” he said as he shook Temari.

Temari stirred, taking in a deep breath and opened her eyes. She looked around and saw Koji and Gaara looking at her. Her eyes went wide when she saw Gaara and looked over to the window to see that it was now completely dark outside. She threw off the blanket and looked back at Gaara. “I’m sorry. I must have fallen asleep. I’ll have dinner made soon.”

Gaara stood up. “It’s fine. You don’t have to rush.”

“But I’m Hungry,” Koji whined.

Temari stood up. “I’m sorry, sweetie. Come on, let’s go make dinner,” she said holding out her hand.

Koji smiled and took Temari’s hand, and the three left the room.

oOo

A couple weeks later, Temari walked into Koji’s room and saw him drawing something on the floor. “What you up to munchkin.”

“I’m writing,” Koji said as he looked up at her.

“Oh? What’re you writing?” Temari asked as she walked over to him. She knelt down and looked at the piece of paper on the floor.

“Daddy appligation,” Koji said excitedly.

Temari looked at him surprised. “What?”

Koji lifted the paper up and showed it to Temari. “See?”

Temari looked at it and saw that “Dabby Aplikashon” Was written on half the page. Right below it she saw a question that read, “FavRit koloR?”

Temari took the paper in her hand and flipped it around to look at the back. “Pla with me?” “giv me brothr?” and “Wil U luv me anb mommy?”

“Why are you making this?” Temari asked.

“I want a daddy lige Roba does,” Koji said a little sadly.

“Roba? You mean that boy you play with at the park?” Temari asked.

Koji nodded. “He said his daddy is fun. Why don’t I have a daddy?”

Temari sat the paper on the ground and pulled Koji into her arms and hugged him. Before she could answer him, however, Kankuro walked in.

“Hey, Temari, Gaara needs you in his office. I’ll watch Koji for a few minutes.”

Temari looked down at Koji, who looked back at her sadly. “We’ll talk about this later, sweetie.” She sat Koji on the ground next to her, stood up, and walked to the door. Before she left the room, she took one more look at Koji and saw him staring at her sadly. Temari looked away guiltily and left for the office.

When she got there, she saw Gaara writing on some document. “You wanted to see me?”

Gaara looked up at her. “Yes. Come in.” Temari walked in and closed the door behind her. “Shikamaru is here…”

“What?” Temari exclaimed, cutting Gaara off. “Why’s he here?”

Gaara glared. “I was about to tell you.”

Temari blushed. “Sorry.”

Gaara’s expression softened and he continued. “He’s here because Lady Tsunade has a favor to ask and she didn’t want to take a chance of an enemy finding out about the requested favor.”

“Ok, but why is _he_ here? She could’ve sent anyone.”

“She sent Shikamaru specifically because, like you, he is the agreed representative of Konoha.”

“So because he is my escort, she chose him to deliver the message,” Temari said a little annoyed.

Gaara smiled. “Perhaps, but any case, I want you to be his escort while he is here. He said he just wanted to go to the hotel and relax for the rest of today, so I just had a shinobi show him the way. Tomorrow you will be his official escort.”

“Alright,” Temari said.

“Does he know about Koji?”

“No,” Temari said. “I could never find a way to tell him.”

Gaara raised what would’ve been an eyebrow if he had any. “Is it really that hard?”

Temari blushed again. “It’s not something you just say to someone that’s not family and doesn’t even live in the same village.”

“But I thought you liked him? Wouldn’t that be reason enough?”

Temari’s face went more red. “I never said I liked that lazy bum,” she defended herself.

“I’m not stupid, Temari,” Gaara said. “And even Kankuro can see that you have feelings for him.”

Temari looked away. “Ok, fine, but I have no idea if he even likes me back.” She looked back at him. “And besides, he thinks everything is way to troublesome, especially kids. If I told him about Koji, he would never want to be with me.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Gaara, I’ve spent the last three or so years as the representative for this village, visiting Konoha many times for meetings and the chunin exams with that lazy butt as my escort every time. I think I’ve figured him out by now.”

Gaara opened his mouth to respond, but was stopped by Kankuro busting through the door. “Temari! We have a problem!”

Temari turned to look at him. “What’s wrong?” And where’s Koji?”

“That’s the problem,” Kankuro said.

“What?!” Temari asked panicking a bit.

“I don’t know how, but Koji managed to get out of the house. I just went to the bathroom and when I came back out, he was nowhere in the house. When I went past the front door, it was wide open.”

“Did you look for him?” Temari asked.

“There’s no way I’d find him in this huge village by myself, that’s why I came straight here.”

Temari rushed past Kankuro and Gaara stood up and headed for the door. “We’ll split up and look for him. I’ll us my sand to search from the air.”

Kankuro nodded and they both headed out.

oOo

Shikamaru walked down the street, a yawn escaping his mouth. _‘Man, why couldn’t I sleep? I’m tired enough to, but for some reason I just couldn’t. What a drag.’_ He closed his eyes and sighed.

“Mommy.”

Shikamaru opened his eyes and looked around. _‘That sounded like a kid crying.’_ He searched for the source of the crying and finally spotted a small child curled up next to one of the buildings. He walked over to the kid. “Hey, you ok, kid?”

The child looked up at Shikamaru and Shikamaru could’ve sworn he was looking into Temari’s face. _‘That’s impossible. She doesn’t have a kid.’_

“I gan’t find my mommy,” the boy said.

Shikamaru knelt down in front of him. “Where did you last see her?”

“At home,” the boy said.

“Where’s your home?”

The boy looked around and Shikamaru could tell the kid was getting more scared. “I don’t know.”

“Alright, calm down. We’ll find your mom,” Shikamaru said as reassuring as he could. He really didn’t want to deal with a hysterically crying child. Crying children were bad enough. Shikamaru stood up and reached out to the boy. “Come on, let’s go find her.”

The boy looked up at Shikamaru, his fear now directed at Shikamaru. “NO!”

Shikamaru raised both his hands. “Whoa, calm down. I’m only trying to help you.” He saw the boy look at Shikamaru’s clothes and Shikamaru sighed, lowering his hands. “It’s because you don’t recognize my clothes, isn’t it?”

The boy nodded. “I don’t know you.”

Shikamaru knelt back down. “My name’s Shikamaru Nara. I’m a shinobi from Konoha.”

“Gonoha?” the boy asked.

“Konoha,” Shikamaru said again. “It’s a village that’s actually an ally with your village.”

“Ally?”

Shikamaru sighed in frustration knowing he was only confusing the boy. “Your village is friends with my village.”

“Oh,” the boy said finally understanding.

“Yeah, so I’m not going to hurt you. What’s your name?”

“Goji.”

“Goji?” Shikamaru asked.

“NO! Go… Go…” the boy stopped clearly frustrated.

Shikamaru looked down trying to remember if the boy had problems saying other words. “Koji?”

The boy smiled and nodded. “Yeah!”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Koji. Do you remember my name?”

“Shigamaru?” Koji asked unsure.

“Yeah, only it’s ShiKamaru,” Shikamaru replied stressing the “K” sound.

“Shigamaru,” Koji said again.

“Close enough,” Shikamaru said giving up. “So, will you let me help you now?”

Koji looked at Shikamaru still hesitant.

“Guess you still don’t trust me. That’s a good thing I guess. Would you at least let me take you to the Kazekage. He’ll be able to help you find your mom.”

Koji shook his head again, making Shikamaru sigh in frustration. He knew he couldn’t just leave Koji here, but if he tried to take Koji anywhere, Koji would just scream and cry, making a scene that could get him into a lot of trouble. “Ok, what’s your mom’s name? I can find someone around here that can either find her or go get someone you will trust to take you to her.”

“It’s mommy,” Koji said like it was the most natural thing in the world.

“No, I mean what do other people call her?” Shikamaru said a little annoyed.

Koji looked down in thought then back up at Shikamaru. “Temari.”

Shikamaru’s eyes went wide. “What?”

“Temari,” Koji said again aggravated that Shikamaru wasn’t listening the first time.

“That’s… It’s really Temari?” As in the Kazekage’s sister?” Shikamaru asked not believing the boy.

“Ungle Gaara,” Koji said happily.

Shikamaru turned away from Koji, putting his hand on his head. “No way.”

Koji stared at Shikamaru confused at his response.

Shikamaru finally turned back to Koji. “Listen, kid, I know your mom. We’re really good friends actually. I’m also friends with both of your uncles, although I wouldn’t say Kankuro and I are the best of friends.”

Koji was surprised when Shikamaru said Kankuro’s name when he never mentioned that uncle. “You know Ungle Ganguro?”

“Yeah,” Shikamaru said. “I told you, I know both your uncles and your mom.”

Koji stared at Shikamaru for a minute then stood up. “Will you tage me to mommy?” Koji asked still a little hesitant.

Shikamaru smiled. “Yeah, or if you want, I’ll take you straight to Gaara.”

Koji nodded and walked over to Shikamaru. He stared at Shikamaru again for a few seconds then took Shikamaru’s hand.

Shikamaru looked down at Koji surprised, but smiled and they walked off toward the Kazekage’s building.

After a few minutes of walking, Gaara landed in front of them. “Koji.”

“Ungle Gaara!” Koji exclaimed, let go of Shikamaru’s hand, and ran to Gaara.

Gaara placed a hand on Koji’s back and lifted his other hand and sent sand in two different directions. He then looked at Shikamaru. “What are you doing with him? I thought you were resting at the hotel?”

“I was, but I couldn’t sleep, so I went for a walk to see if that would help. That’s when I ran into Koji.”

“I see,” Gaara said.

They heard two people arrive and saw Temari and Kankuro standing next to Gaara.

“Koji!” Temari said and rushed forward and wrapped Koji in a hug.

“Mommy!” Koji said as he let his mom smother him.

Temari pulled back and looked at Koji seriously. “Koji, why did you run away from the house? You know you’re not supposed to leave the house without one of us. You had us worried sick.”

Koji looked like he was about to cry. “I’m sorry.”

Temari sighed and pulled Koji in for another hug. “It’s ok. Just don’t ever do that again, ok?”

Koji nodded against Temari’s chest.

Temari looked up at Gaara. “Thank you.”

“It wasn’t me that found him,” Gaara said.

Temari looked over at Shikamaru and her eyes went wide. “You found him?”

“Yeah,” Shikamaru said.

Temari stood up, keeping a hand on Koji, who kept his arms around Temari’s leg. She bowed. “Thank you for finding him.”

“It’s fine,” Shikamaru replied, “but why didn’t you tell me about him?”

Temari went rigid and stood back up straight. “I… I wasn’t sure how to tell you,” she said looking away from him.

“You could’ve just said you had a kid,” Shikamaru said. “Who’s the kid’s father anyway,” he asked a bit upset.

“No one,” Temari said and picked Koji up. “He doesn’t have a dad.”

Koji looked at his mother sad again. “Why?”

Temari’s eyes went wide. She had forgotten about their conversation before Gaara called her to his office. “Uh… You see…”

“The guy was a jerk that hurt your mommy very badly, so we didn’t want him around anymore,” Kankuro suddenly said.

Temari looked at him very grateful.

“So he’s a bad guy?” Koji asked.

“Yes,” Gaara said. “He was a very bad guy and we didn’t want him around you so that he could hurt you too.”

“Oh,” Koji said. He laid his head on Temari’s shoulder. “I’m glad he’s not here.”

Temari smiled. She turned back to Shikamaru. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but now you know.”

“Yeah,” Shikamaru said. He turned around and started heading back to the hotel.

“Hey! Where you going, Nara?” Kankuro asked.

Shikamaru stopped and turned around. “Back to the hotel. I told Gaara I wanted to rest, and if you don’t want to be my escort, Temari, I’ll understand.” He turned back around and continued walking.

Temari watched him go, her heart breaking. She turned and walked in the opposite direction, trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall.”

“Mommy?”

She looked down at Koji, who was looking at her confused. “I’m ok, sweetie.”

“He a bad man?” Koji asked.

Temari stopped and looked at him. “What? No. Shikamaru is not a bad man.” She took in a deep breath and smiled at her son. “He’s just like that, lazy and always wants to sleep. Never wanting to do anything.”

“Lazy?” Koji asked not understanding.

“Yeah, lazy,” Temari said and kept walking.

No one said anything else the entire walk home.

oOo

The next day, Shikamaru yawned as he went to the door. When he opened it, he was surprised to find a guy standing there. “Uh, yes?”

“Shikamaru Nara?” the guy asked.

“Yeah.”

“My name is Bokuma. I’ll be your escort for the remainder of your stay.”

Shikamaru frowned. “Ok. Come on in. Give me a few minutes to get ready.”

Bokuma nodded and walked in. Once Shikamaru was ready, Bokuma escorted him around the village, showing him the market place, training grounds, and the other places Shikamaru just didn’t care about.

“Is there any where specific you would like to see, sir?” Bokuma asked.

‘ _I’m not some tourist.’_ “Where’s Temari’s place?” Shikamaru asked.

Bokuma’s eyes went wide. “Why?”

“Because she’s the only one I know here besides the Kazekage and Kankuro,” Shikamaru said a little annoyed.

“Uh… ok,” Bokuma said and they headed toward Temari’s house. When they got there, Bokuma stopped at the front gate. “There it is.”

“Thanks,” Shikamaru said and started to open the gate.

“What are you doing?” Bokuma asked grabbing Shikamaru’s arm.

“Going to see my friend. Why do you have orders to keep me away from here?” Shikamaru asked.

“Well, no, but you can’t just drop by unannounced,” Bokuma said.

“I’m sure it will be fine,” Shikamaru said shaking off Bokuma’s grip and opening the gate. “And if she doesn’t want me here, I’ll go back to the hotel.”

Bokuma was silent and watched Shikamaru walk up to the door.

Shikamaru took in a deep breath and knocked. The door opened and Temari was surprised to see him there. “Hey.”

“What are you doing here?” Temari asked.

“I was tired of playing tourist,” Shikamaru said pointing back at Bokuma. “So, I thought I’d drop by.”

“Oh. Uh… Come on in,” Temari finally said and opened the door the rest of the way.

Shikamaru looked back at Bokuma and waved before he walked into the house.

“Mommy, I don’t know,” Koji said running up to them.

“Ok. Why don’t you take a break? You remember Shikamaru from yesterday, right?” Temari said.

Koji looked up at Shikamaru and smiled. “Yeah. He brought me to Ungle Gaara.”

“Yeah, and he’s going to be hanging out with us for a little while,” Temari said.

“If that’s ok with you,” Shikamaru said.

“It’s ogay,” Koji said.

“Good,” Temari said. “Why don’t you show Shikamaru to the living room and I’ll go get some snacks.”

“Yay!” Koji exclaimed and grabbed Shikamaru’s hand and drug him into the living room.

Temari laughed at Shikamaru’s reaction. She shook her head and headed to the kitchen. When she came back to the living room, she noticed that Koji had brought several of his favorite toys into the room and was showing them to Shikamaru. She brought in the plate of cookies and milk on a tray and sat them down on the coffee table.

“Googies!” Koji yelled and rushed up to the table. He grabbed two cookies and bit into one and held the other one out to Shikamaru. “Want one?” he asked around a mouth full of cookie.

Shikamaru got up off the floor and walked over to the table. “Thanks,” he said as he took the cookie from Koji and sat down on the couch next to Temari.

Koji nodded, grabbed another cookie off the plate, and went back over to his blocks.

“I hope he didn’t annoy you too much,” Temari said.

Shikamaru looked at her confused. “Why would he annoy me?”

“Because he’s a kid,” Temari said. “I know you don’t like kids, so…”

“I never said I didn’t like kids,” Shikamaru said cutting her off.

“Maybe not outright, but you do call them troublesome and act like you despise them.”

“I call you troublesome all the time,” Shikamaru said. He bit into the cookie. “And I don’t despise them… These are really good.”

“Thanks,” Temari said a bit confused. “Then why do you always avoid them?”

Shikamaru took another bite of the cookie. “I didn’t think you wanted to be bothered by them. I’ve seen several visitors look down at kids because they’re running around in the streets unsupervised. I know how strict you and your village are, so I didn’t want you getting upset at them, or hitting me with that huge fan.”

“Honestly, every time I saw a kid in your village, it made me think of Koji,” Temari said looking at Koji.

“What happened?” Shikamaru asked.

“I was raped,” Temari said quietly.

Shikamaru’s eyes went wide. “Oh man, I’m so sorry. I…”

“It’s fine,” Temari said. “It was four years ago. I’m ok now.”

“Does Koji ever remind you of it?”

“All the time,” she said, “but I love Koji and would never give him up. I’ve never seen that man again, so I just try to forget it.”

“It can’t be easy though.”

Temari looked back at him. “It’s not so bad now. Time really does heal. In a few more years, I may not remember it at all.”

“Maru, come play with me,” Koji said suddenly coming up to Shikamaru and pulling on his hand.

Shikamaru threw the last bite of his cookie into his mouth and stood up. He let Koji drag him over to the toy cars Koji had out.

Temari watched the two play for quite a while. She was seeing a side of Shikamaru that she didn’t even know existed, and not once did Shikamaru complain about spending time with Koji.

oOo

A few days later, Gaara had finally gathered the information Lady Tsunade had asked for, so it was time for Shikamaru to head back to Konoha.

“Why do you have to go?” Koji asked. He, Temari, and Gaara were all at the gate seeing Shikamaru off.

“Because I have to go back to my village,” Shikamaru said as he ruffled Koji’s hair. “But I’m sure I’ll see you soon.”

“You gome bag tomorrow?” Koji asked.

“Koji,” Temari said sternly.

“It’s alright,” Shikamaru said with a smile. “I’m afraid it’ll be a little longer than that. You see, my village is three days from yours, so it will take me three days just to get to my village.”

“Oh,” Koji said sadly and laid his head on his mom’s shoulder.

“Be careful,” Temari said.

“I will,” Shikamaru replied. He turned to Gaara. “Thank you for letting me stay in your village.”

“You are welcome any time,” Gaara said.

Shikamaru nodded and turned to leave. Gaara turned and headed back to his office, but Temari and Koji watched Shikamaru until he disappeared into the distance.

“Maru gome bag?” Koji asked Temari.

“He said he would, didn’t he?” Koji nodded. “Then he will. He’s a man of his word.”

“Man of his word?”

“It means he does what he says he’s going to do,” Temari explained.

“Oh,” Koji said.

Temari kissed her son and headed back home.

The next day, Temari was in Koji’s room picking up his toys while Gaara distracted Koji in the living room. She picked up what had to be the twentieth toy car and sighed. _‘I really need to get rid of some of these toys.’_ She threw the car in the toy box and turned to see another pile of toys sitting next to Koji’s small desk. She smiled as she walked over to it, remembering how happy Koji was that he could now be like Uncle Gaara.

She started to reach down to pick up the toys, but something caught her eye. She noticed a piece of paper on the desk and realized it was the daddy application. She frowned at the memory of how sad Koji was, but then realized there was other writing on the page than Koji’s.

The other words were written good, so she knew Koji didn’t write them, and why would either one of her brothers hurt Koji by filling it out. She flipped the paper over to see if the person wrote their name on it, but all she saw were the questions and answers.

She lowered the paper and tried to figure out who else could’ve done it, then her eyes went wide. _‘The only other people that came into the house after Koji made this was Matsuri and Shika… No way!’_

She looked back at the paper and read it. “Favorite color? Dark green. Play with me? Of course. Give me brother? Maybe. Will you love me and mommy?” Temari stopped when she read this answer. Two words that she never expected to see. Already do.

Temari backed up and sat on Koji’s bed, still staring at those two words. _‘Is this for real? Did Shikamaru really write this?’_ She stood up and walked quickly down the hall and into the living room. “Koji.”

Koji turned to his mother and smiled. “You play with us now?”

Temari walked over to him and knelt down. “Koji, did you show Shikamaru the application you made?” she said completely ignoring his question.

“No,” Koji answered.

Temari looked back at the paper in her hand.

“What application?” Gaara asked.

Temari looked up at him. “He made a daddy application a few days ago.”

“Why are you asking Koji if he showed it to Shikamaru?” Gaara asked.

“Because the questions on here are answered, and besides you, me, and Kankuro, Matsuri and Shikamaru are the only ones that have been in this house to answer them,” Temari replied.

“Someone answered my appligation?” Koji asked excitedly and took the paper from Temari. He looked at the black words next to his. “Yay! Someone wants to be my daddy!” he said jumping up and down. He stopped jumping and focused his attention on Temari. “Who? Who? Was it Maru?”

Temari looked at his eager face. “I don’t know. He didn’t put his name on it, but…”

“But?” Koji asked eagerly.

“But he’s the only one I can think of that would’ve been able to,” Temari finished.

“Yay! Yay! Yay!” Koji said jumping around the living room. “Daddy Maru! Daddy Maru!” He kept repeating his chant as he jumped around.

Gaara watched Koji jump around then turned to Temari. “What are you going to do?”

Temari turned to Gaara. “I have no idea.” She looked back at Koji who was now talking excitedly to his stuffed bear. “I don’t want to upset him, but I don’t even know if Shikamaru was serious or just did this as a joke.”

“Why would it be a joke?” Gaara asked.

Temari looked back at Gaara. “I-I don’t know.”

“I don’t see Shikamaru as a person that would joke about something like this,” Gaara said.

Temari looked down in thought. “But I just can’t figure out why he would do this.” She looked back up. “He has never once made any indication that he liked me in that way, and he is always saying how he hates troublesome situations. Koji’s not even his kid. Why would he want to put himself in the troublesome situation of dealing with my kid? He…”

“Temari,” Gaara said sternly.

Temari blinked. “What?”

Gaara nodded to tell her to look behind her.

Temari turned around and saw Koji looking at her with tears in his eyes. “Koji…”

“Maru not like me?” Koji said squeezing his teddy bear tightly.

“Koji…” Temari tried and reached out to him, but Koji started crying and ran down the hall. “Koji, wait.” She got up and followed him to his room where she found him on his bed, crying into his pillow.

She walked over to the bed and sat down. She reached over and rubbed his back. “I’m sorry, Koji. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

Koji turned his red face toward her. “Why Maru not like me?”

“He does like you. I… What I said in the living room was just me being scared,” Temari said.

Koji sat up and wiped his eyes on his arm. “Sgared?” Temari pulled him into her lap and wrapped her arms around him. “But mommy never gets sgared.”

Temari smiled. “I wish that was true, but everyone gets scared every once in a while.”

“Even Ungle Gaara and Ungle Gangaruo?”

“Yes, even your uncles,” Temari replied.

“But why?” Koji asked.

“That’s just how it is. Everyone gets scared. It’s the way of nature.”

“No, why you sgared, mommy?”

Temari looked at him unsure how to say it. “Uh… Well, I… I like Shikamaru, you know, as more than just a friend, but for so long, he never showed me that he liked me back. Now that I have possible proof that he does, I’m not sure how to handle it.”

“Why?”

“It’s complicated.”

“Why?”

Temari kissed the top of his head. “You’ll understand when you’re older.”

“I want to under stand now,” Koji said.

Temari sighed and sat him down on the bed, then got up. “Sorry, but it’s not really a conversation for kids.”

Koji pouted and crossed his arms.

“Nope. Not gonna work,” Temari said. She placed a hand on his head and Koji relaxed and looked at her. “Listen, don’t worry about it, ok?”

“But I want a daddy,” Koji said.

“I know, and I hope someday I can give you one, but right now, it’s just you and me.”

“Ok,” Koji said sadly.

“Temari.”

Temari turned and saw Gaara in the doorway. “Yeah?”

“I have to go to the office,” Gaara said.

“Ok, we’ll see you tonight,” Temari replied.

Gaara nodded and left.

Temari turned back to Koji. “How about we go to the park?”

“Yeah!” Koji exclaimed, jumped off the bed, and ran out of the room.

“Koji, no running in the house,” Temari said sternly and followed him.

oOo

Shikamaru laid on the grass at his favorite cloud-watching spot with his eyes closed. It had been two months since he got back from Suna, and he couldn’t get Temari or Koji out of his head. He had promised Temari that he wouldn’t tell anyone about Koji and he was finding it harder and harder to keep that promise, especially when people asked him what’s wrong.

Shikamaru sat up and sighed. _‘I know she would’ve found it by now. Why hasn’t she written to yell at me about it?’_ He looked up at the clouds floating by in the sky. _‘Did she think it was just some kind of joke and throw it away?’_

“Maru!”

Shikamaru looked over wide eyed and saw Koji running toward him. “Koji?” he got out before Koji plowed into him, knocking him over.

“I missed you, Maru,” Koji said.

Shikamaru sat back up and looked down at the boy that had been plaguing his mind. “I missed you, too, but what are you doing here?”

“Well that’s rude.”

He looked over and saw Temari and a small smile appeared. “Ok, then I’ll ask you. What’s he doing here?”

Temari stopped a few feet from him and crossed her arms. “That’s still rude.”

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. “Troublesome woman. Why did you bring him all the way here? You usually leave him in Suna when you come here.”

Temari walked the rest of the way and sat down next to him. “I was going to be here longer than usual, so I decided to bring him along. I haven’t really left him for a long period of time before.”

“Really?” Shikamaru asked.

“Yeah. The last time I was here was the longest I’ve been gone,” Temari said.

“What about other missions?” Shikamaru asked.

“After I had Koji, I haven’t really taken big missions. The biggest I’ve done has been an escort mission for an important delegate to a village close by.”

“I see,” Shikamaru said and watched as Koji plucked a dandelion from the ground and examined it. “So what brings you to Konoha this time? Lady Tsunade didn’t say you were coming so I know it’s not any meetings.”

“Vagation!” Koji said happily.

“Vacation?” Shikamaru asked looking from Koji to Temari.

“It was Gaara’s idea,” she replied. “He thought it would be good for Koji to get out of Suna and meet some allies.”

“But I thought you didn’t want anyone to know about Koji?” Shikamaru said.

“Before you found out, I didn’t know how to tell anyone, but I asked you not to tell anyone because I didn’t want them to find out from someone else. I wanted to be the one to tell them.”

“What’s this?” Koji asked Shikamaru as he held up the flower.

“It’s called a dandelion,” Shikamaru said. “It’s a kind of flower.

“Oh,” Koji said and lowered it back down to look at it again.

“Shikamaru knows someone that has a lot of flowers, and knows a lot about them,” Temari said.

“Really?” Koji asked.

“Yeah, but we’ll go see her later,” Temari said. “Didn’t you say you were getting hungry before we got here?”

“Yeah, I’m hungry,” Koji said.

Temari stood up and helped Koji off Shikamaru’s lap. “Come on. Shikamaru will buy us lunch.”

“Hey, why do I have to buy lunch?” Shikamaru asked as he stood up.

“Because,” Temari said, “it’s your village.”

“Then that means you should’ve been the one to pay for me while I was in Suna,” Shikamaru said.

“I made you food,” Temari said and smiled. “Besides, you’re the guy.”

Shikamaru huffed. “Troublesome woman.”

Temari laughed and they continued to the village. Once they got in town, Koji grabbed his mom’s hand and stood close to her, afraid of the strange people around them.

Everyone was staring at them. The villagers were used to seeing Shikamaru and Temari together, but it was new to see a kid with them. Shikamaru sighed when he saw a couple people whispering with each other.

“What?” Temari asked when she heard him.

“People are getting the wrong idea,” he replied.

Temari stopped, looked around and saw the people whispering, picked Koji up, and kept walking. “Let them. We know the truth so it doesn’t matter.” Shikamaru didn’t respond, but she knew he agreed.

After they ate, they headed over to the Yamanaka’s Flower Shop to see Ino.

“Welcome,” Ino said then realized who walked in. “Temari! It’s good to see you again,” she said walking around the counter. She noticed someone hiding behind Temari’s leg. “Who’s this?” she asked as she knelt down.

Koji tried to hide even more behind Temari.

“This is Koji, my son,” Temari said.

“What?” Ino exclaimed looking up at Temari. She then turned her head to Shikamaru.

Shikamaru raised his hands. “Hey, don’t look at me. I found out about him two months ago on my mission to Suna.”

“Shikamaru’s not the father,” Temari clarified.

Ino looked back at Koji, who quickly hid his face again, and smiled. “Hey, it’s ok. I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Koji,” Temari said placing a hand behind his head to try and coax him out. “This is Ino, Shikamaru’s friend. She’s the one that knows about flowers.”

Koji looked at Ino then down at his flower. He held out the flower and took a step toward Ino. “I have a dandy lion.”

“Awww! So cute!” Ino said loudly.

Koji jumped at Ino’s loud voice, dropped the flower, and hid behind Temari again.

“Congratulations, Ino, you already scare the kid,” Shikamaru said.

Ino glared at Shikamaru then turned back to Koji. She picked up the dandelion off the floor and held it out to him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Koji stared at Ino for a second then stepped out and took the flower from Ino. He then looked around and saw all the flowers in the store. “Wow,” he said wide eyed.

“Would you like to see them closer?” Ino asked.

Koji looked up at Temari to see if it was ok. When she nodded her ok, Koji turned back to Ino, smiled, and nodded vigorously.”

Ino stood up and chuckled. “Ok. How ‘bout we go look at some roses and daffodils first,” she said and held out her hand.

“Yeah,” Koji said excitedly and took Ino’s hand. “What’s a roses and daffy dills?”

Ino laughed and dragged Koji away from Shikamaru and Temari.

Temari smiled and turned to Shikamaru. “Well, he’ll be occupied for a while.”

“Yeah,” Shikamaru said. “Hope Ino can keep up with all the questions he’s going to have.”

“I’m sure she can handle it,” Temari said. She took a quick glance back at Ino and Koji, then back at Shikamaru. She grabbed his arm and headed for the door.

“Hey,” Shikamaru said in surprise. “Where are we going?” He struggled to keep his balance until he finally managed to turn around.

“I need to talk to you,” Temari said not looking back at him. She dragged him to the end of the building, not wanting to be too far away in case Koji needed her.

“What’s this about?” Shikamaru asked putting his hands back in his pockets.

Temari pulled a piece of paper out of her side pouch and held it out to him. “Did you fill this out?”

Shikamaru took the paper and looked it over then handed it back. “Yeah.”

Temari took the paper back a bit surprised. “You’re admitting it so easily?”

Shikamaru looked away from her and rubbed the back of his head. “Why not?”

“I just didn’t expect you to actually admit it,” Temari said. “Did you mean it?”

Shikamaru looked back at her confused. “Mean what?”

“The answers,” Temari said. “Did you really answer these questions truthfully, or did you just write them to make Koji happy?”

Shikamaru looked into Temari’s eyes and saw a hint of fear. “Why would I answer them if I didn’t mean it? I know that would only hurt Koji if I lied on it.”

Temari looked down. “Even the last question?” she asked without looking up.

“It’s been a while since I read through them,” Shikamaru said.

“The one where he asked if you would love him and… me,” Temari said still not looking up. Her face was slightly blushed now.

When he didn’t say anything, she looked up at him and saw he had looked away from her, his cheeks tinted a light shade of pink. “I said I didn’t lie on it.”

“Mommy!”

Temari looked over and saw Koji standing outside the shop door struggling to get away from Ino, who had a firm grip on his wrist.

“Koji, I told you she’ll be back. Let’s just go back inside and wait for her,” Ino tried.

“No!” Koji said trying to push Ino’s hand off him.

“Koji, what’s wrong?” Temari asked.

Koji looked up and saw Shikamaru and Temari heading for them. “Mommy!” Ino let go of his wrist, and Koji ran over to her and clung to her. “Why’d you leave?”

“I had to talk to Shikamaru for a minute,” Temari said trying to hold back the blush she could feel trying to rear its head again. She knelt down and put her hands on Koji’s shoulders. “You know I wouldn’t leave you someplace you weren’t use to. I was just outside here.”

“When he ran to show you a flower I gave him and didn’t see you, he started panicking. I told him you probably had someplace you wanted to go real fast since he was looking at flowers with me, but that didn’t help at all. He just ran toward the door,” Ino said.

Temari looked up at Ino. “Sorry. This is his first time being away from Suna.” She picked Koji up, who laid his head on her shoulder. “I guess not seeing me made him scared.”

“It’s ok,” Ino said.

“He’s probably tired from the trip, too,” Shikamaru said. “Maybe you should lay him down for a while.”

“Yeah,” Temari said when she looked down at Koji and saw him trying to keep his eyes open. “Thanks for watching him, Ino,” she said as she walked past Ino.

“No problem,” Ino said happily. “Come by again sometime. We never finished looking at all the flowers.”

“We will,” Temari yelled back.

By the time they got to the hotel Temari usually stayed at, Koji was fast asleep. “Well, I guess I’ll see you later,” Temari said as she walked toward the building.

Shikamaru stopped walking. “Yeah.” He stared at them until they disappeared into the building, then turned and headed home.

oOo

Shikaku heard the door open and close and heard Shikamaru call out that he was home. He stood up from the couch and walked into the hall. “Welcome home.”

“Hey, dad. You’re home early,” Shikamaru said.

“Yeah. I finished up at the tower and decided to come home for lunch,” Shikaku said.

They both walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. “I already ate,” Shikamaru said.

“That’s fine,” Shikaku said. “Son, is there something you haven’t told your mother and me?”

Shikamaru looked at him confused. “What do you mean?”

“I heard something on the way back here that has me concerned.”

“Like what?”

Shikaku could see that his son had no idea what he was talking about. “Maybe it’s nothing, but I heard a few people talking about how they saw you, Temari, and some kid.”

“Oh that,” Shikamaru said. “It’s not what you’re thinking of.”

“Oh?” Shikaku asked crossing his arms and leaning back on the couch.

“Something happened to Temari a few years ago, and now she has Koji,” Shikamaru said.

“So Temari had a kid with someone else?”

“It wasn’t her choice,” Shikamaru said looking away.

“I see,” Shikaku said and stood up and headed out of the room. “Thank you for telling me.”

Shikamaru stared at his dad. “That’s why you came home?”

“No. I said I came home to have lunch. You just happened to come home, so I thought I’d ask,” Shikaku said not turning around. Before Shikamaru could say anything else, Shikaku left the room.

“Troublesome old man,” Shikamaru said leaning back on the couch. _‘How could he think I would actually do that, and even if I did, he and mom would’ve been the first people to know.’_ He sighed and leaned his head on the back of the couch and closed his eyes.

oOo

Over the next couple days, Shikamaru showed Koji all the fun places he could play including the park, training grounds, and a huge meadow just outside the village. That’s where they were now.

Koji was surprised at how many flowers were in the area. “So many.”

“Yeah,” Shikamaru said. “This is a meadow. There isn’t a lot of people that come here, so flowers can grow to the amount you see.”

Koji looked up at his mom. “Why don’t we have me does?”

“It’s too hot in Suna for flowers to grow to this quantity. We can get the occasional desert flower, but nothing like this,” Temari explained.

Koji looked back at the flowers and started running through them. Temari just smiled and found a nice spot to sit down. “I think he likes Konoha.”

Shikamaru sat down next to her. “Yeah, but that’s just because it’s all new to him. I’m sure he’ll want to return to Suna once the newness wears off.”

“Newness?” Temari asked.

“Shut up. It’s the only way I could think of it,” Shikamaru said looking away from her.

Temari rolled her eyes and smiled. She watched Koji pull some flowers out of the ground and bunch them together, then run around throwing them up in the air.

Shikamaru laid down and stared up at the clouds. He closed his eyes and just listened to the wind blow through the trees. When he noticed the sun was no longer as bright in his eyes, he opened them to see Koji looking down at him.

“What you doin’?” Koji asked.

“Looking at the clouds,” Shikamaru explained.

Koji looked up at the sky then back at Shikamaru. “Why?”

Temari tried to stifle her laugh.

“It’s how I like to relax,” Shikamaru said ignoring Temari.

“Relax?” Koji asked.

“Yeah. It’s how I calm down after a long, stressful, or hard day.”

“Oh,” Koji said and laid down next to Shikamaru. He looked up at the sky and at all the clouds.

Shikamaru looked at him then back at the sky. “Can you find pictures in the clouds?”

“Pictures?”

“Yeah, like… That one looks like a circle,” Shikamaru said pointing to a round cloud. “And that one kind of looks like a tree,” he said pointing to another cloud.

Koji looked at the sky in amazement. “I see a dog,” he said pointing at a weirdly shaped cloud.

“Great, now you’re trying to make my kid into a lazy bum too,” Temari said.

“Lazy bum?” Koji asked looking at Temari.

“Troublesome woman,” Shikamaru said.

Koji looked back and forth between the smiling Temari and the pouting Shikamaru. He started laughing which surprised both Shikamaru and Temari.

“What’s so funny?” Temari asked.

“Mommy and Maru,” Koji said smiling.

Shikamaru blinked then looked at Temari then smiled himself. He then reached over and started tickling Koji. “Oh we’re funny, are we?”

“Stop!” Koji said between laughter, trying to push Shikamaru’s hands away, but Shikamaru just kept tickling him.

Temari just smiled at the whole scene.

“Will Maru marry mommy?”

Shikamaru froze and Temari looked at Koji wide eyed. “Koji!”

Shikamaru stared at Koji, who looked up at him awaiting Shikamaru’s answer.

Temari grabbed Koji’s arm and pulled him away from Shikamaru. “Koji, that’s not something you can just ask someone.”

“Why? You like Maru,” Koji said not understanding why his mother was upset with him.

“Koji, I told you, it’s complicated,” Temari said quieter.

Shikamaru stared at the two. _‘They’ve talked about this before?’_

“But I want a daddy. Maru filled out the appligation,” Koji said.

“It’s not as easy as that, sweetie,” Temari said and pulled him close to her chest. She looked over at Shikamaru who still seemed shock, and blushed. “We should get back to the hotel,” she said, stood Koji up, then stood up herself. She grabbed Koji’s hand and started walking back toward the village.

Koji looked back at Shikamaru, who just stared at them. “Maru’s not goming?”

“He’s not coming back to the hotel with us,” Temari said.

Koji continued staring at Shikamaru until he couldn’t see him anymore.

oOo

Shikamaru didn’t see Temari for the rest of the day, and was now staring at his bedroom ceiling. Koji’s words kept running though his head. _‘Does Temari really like me? I mean I never really said it outright, but I told her that I loved her. Did she come here because she loves me too?’_

He was brought out of his thoughts by a knock on his door. “Shikamaru, dinner’s almost ready,” Yoshino said.

“I’ll be down in a minute,” Shikamaru said. He sat up and stared at his feet. _‘But if she does like me, why didn’t she say anything. It’s been a couple days since she confronted me about the application Koji made.’_ He took a deep breath and decided to head down stairs.

“Are you Maru’s mommy?”

“Koji?” Shikamaru said surprised. He quickly walked the rest of the way to the kitchen.

“Yes, I am. My name is Yoshino,” Yoshino said.

Shikamaru rounded the corner and saw his mom talking with Koji and Temari standing behind them. “Wha-what’re you doing here?”

“Maru!” Koji said and ran over to him.

Temari blushed and looked away from him. “Koji wouldn’t stop until I brought him to see you.”

“Maru, I’m sorry,” Koji said sadly.

Shikamaru knelt down so he was eye level with Koji. “What do you mean?”

“I was not sposed to say that you and mommy will get married,” Koji said not looking at Shikamaru.

Shikamaru looked up at his mom who looked surprised at Koji’s words and blushed a bit. “It’s ok,” he told Koji. He then leaned forward and said something that only Koji could hear.

“Really!” Koji said happily.

“I said maybe, but don’t say anything, ok?” Shikamaru said putting a finger over his mouth to say ‘shhh.’

“Ogay,” Koji said still happy and went back over to Temari.

“Will you two be staying for dinner?” Yoshino asked.

Temari was still staring at Shikamaru as he stood back up.

“Yeah!” Koji said. “Please, mommy?” he begged Temari.

Temari blinked and looked down at him and smiled. “Well, since we’re here and Yoshino offered…”

“Yay!” Koji said jumping up and down.

“Ok,” Yoshino said smiling. “It should be ready soon. Why don’t you three go to the living room.

Koji ran out of the kitchen and into the living room.

“Where do you get all your energy?” Shikamaru asked as he and Temari followed Koji.

“I wonder that too,” Temari said.

“Gan I watch TV?” Koji asked Shikamaru after he saw the TV.

“Sure,” Shikamaru said and turned it on. He flipped through a few channels until he found a cartoon. Koji sat down on the floor and stared at the screen.

“What did you say to him?” Temari asked.

“Huh?” Shikamaru asked looking at her.

“To Koji. What did you say to him in the kitchen?” Temari said again.

“Oh. That’s between me and him,” Shikamaru said and sat down on the couch.

“I’d like to know what you told my son, Shikamaru,” Temari said crossing her arms.

“Shhhh!” Koji said turning to Temari. “Gan’t hear.”

“Sorry,” Temari huffed and sat down hard on the couch, her arms still crossed.

Shikamaru looked at Temari and smiled. “It’s killing you not knowing isn’t it?”

“Just shut up and watch the cartoon,” Temari said not looking at him.

After a while, Yoshino called out that dinner was ready and the four of them sat around the table in the kitchen. Yoshino dished out some food for Koji, who was sitting in between Shikamaru and Temari and sitting across from Yoshino. “Thang you,” Koji said and picked up his fork.

“You’re very welcome,” Yoshino said with a big smile. She then held out the dish to Temari. “Would you like some too?”

“Thanks,” Temari said taking the dish from Yoshino. “Hey, where’s Shikaku?”

“He said he’d be late tonight,” Yoshino said. “He has a meeting with the elders of the village tomorrow and he said he didn’t have anything ready.”

“Really?” Temari asked then took a bite of food.

“Shikaku is as lazy as his son, if not more so,” Yoshino said a bit annoyed.

“Plus he just got back from an unexpected mission,” Shikamaru added.

“Oh,” Temari said.

“Mommy, I really lige this,” Koji said.

Temari looked over and saw that Koji had sauce all over his face. “Koji,” Temari said as she picked up the napkin and wiped his face, “don’t go making a mess.”

“Sorry,” Koji said then put another spoonful of rice in his mouth.

“Well, I’m glad you like it,” Yoshino said. “Maybe after this you can help me make some cookies?” she asked looking more towards Temari than Koji.

“Yeah!” Koji said loudly.

“Only if you finish your food,” Temari said.

Koji nodded and started shoveling his food in his mouth, which made Shikamaru and Yoshino chuckle.

“Koji, not so fast,” Temari said as she picked up several pieces of meat that fell on the table.

Dinner went by quickly after that, a few conversations here and there, and Koji and Yoshino started making the cookies while Shikamaru and Temari sat in the living room. Shikamaru had pulled out the Shogi board and challenged Temari to a match and they were a good way into the game when Koji ran into the room with two cookies.

“Mommy, Maru, here,” Koji said as he ran up to the two.

“Thank you, sweetie,” Temari said and bit into the cookie. She placed her hand under her mouth to catch a part of the cookie. “Wow, it’s so soft.”

Shikamaru smiled as he took a bite of his cookie. “Yeah,” he said. “Mom knows a really good cookie recipe that comes out soft every time.”

Temari licked some chocolate that got on her finger. “I’m going to have to get that recipe.”

“What’s that?” Koji asked.

Shikamaru looked at Koji and saw him staring at the Shogi board. “It’s called Shogi. It’s a game.”

“A game?” Koji asked excitedly. “Gan I play?”

“This game’s a little bit difficult for you, sweetie, but you can watch,” Temari said.

“Ok,” Koji said and crawled up into Shikamaru’s lap.

“Uh…” Shikamaru let out as Koji settled into his lap.

“Koji, did you ask Shikamaru if you could use him as a chair?” Temari asked.

“No,” he said then looked up at Shikamaru. “Gan I sit on your lap?”

“Well, since you’re already there, I don’t see why not,” Shikamaru said.

“Thangs,” Koji said and turned his attention to the board.

Shikamaru moved his piece and the game continued. Koji was watching carefully at what they were doing, but eventually fell asleep.

“Do you want me to take him?” Temari asked.

“Nah, it’s fine. He’s not hurting anything,” Shikamaru said and smiled. “Checkmate.”

“Wha… Dang it!” Temari cried out.

Shikamaru continued to smile at her then looked up and saw his dad standing in the doorway. “Hey dad.”

Temari turned around. “Oh, hi Shikaku.”

“Hello, Temari,” Shikaku said, his gaze not moving from the child in Shikamaru’s lap.

Temari looked over to where Shikaku was looking and turned back to Shikaku. “That’s Koji, my son.”

“I see,” Shikaku said and walked closer. He leaned down and picked the boy up and moved him to the couch. After placing a blanket on the boy, he turned back to Shikamaru. “I need you for a minute.” He then walked out of the room and toward his home office.

Shikamaru stood up to follow his dad. “I’ll be back.”

“Ok, I’ll be here,” Temari said as she stood up and sat down next to Koji on the couch and watched Shikamaru walk out of the room.

She turned her head toward Koji’s sleeping figure. _‘He’s never crawled up on anyone else and fallen asleep before. He only falls asleep on my lap. Not even Gaara and Kankuro can get him to fall asleep on their lap. He’s really getting attached to Shikamaru.’_

This last thought had her a bit worried. She knew that Shikamaru liked her now, and she’s pretty sure Shikamaru knows she likes him, but neither one of them had actually said it yet. She looked up to the window to look outside and stare at the trees, but what she saw instead was someone staring back at her. “What the… Shikamaru, Shikaku!” she shouted as she stood up.

It took a few seconds, but Shikaku and Shikamaru were in the door way quickly, along with Yoshino. “Temari, what’s wrong?” Shikamaru asked as he walked up to her.

Temari was still staring out the window and pointed at it. “Someone was just looking in from there.”

Shikaku walked over to the window, opened it, stuck his head out, and looked around. He came back in and closed the window. “I don’t see anyone. Did you recognize them?”

“Mommy?”

Temari looked down at Koji, who was sitting up, looking a little scared. She sat down and pulled her son close to her, then looked back at Shikaku. “I didn’t get a good look at him. He moved away almost as soon as I saw him.”

“But you saw that it was a man?” Shikaku asked walking over to her.

“Yeah, that much I know,” Temari said and looked down.

“But…” Shikamaru said sensing that she wasn’t telling them something.

Temari looked up at him. “I may not have seen him really well, but he looked familiar.”

oOo

It was now dark outside, and Shikaku was talking to another Leaf Shinobi. Temari was standing in the hall in between the kitchen and the living room, Koji in her arms, and Shikamaru standing next to her.

“We’ll find out who it was,” Shikamaru said trying to comfort her. He noticed that Koji had fallen asleep again. “Do you want to lay him down in my room?”

Temari shook her head and pulled her arms in closer to Koji. “No, thank you though.”

“We don’t know if they were watching you or us,” Shikamaru said.

Temari shook her head. “No, they were looking right at the couch, and like I said, the man’s face looked familiar. If it was someone watching you or your family, why would I recognize them?”

“I see your point,” Shikamaru said.

Shikaku nodded and said goodbye to the man he was talking to, walked back in the house, and closed the door. He walked up to the two. “They said they didn’t find anyone in the area, but they did see traces of someone being at the window.”

“So I wasn’t just seeing things,” Temari said more than asked.

“No,” Shikaku said. “Someone was really there, but they were able to get away without leaving a trail.”

“Why would someone be sloppy while watching the house, but not when getting away,” Shikamaru asked putting his hand on his chin. “You would think it would be the other way around.”

“I don’t know, but Lady Tsunade knows about this and says she’ll figure out what’s going on,” Shikaku said. He then turned to Temari. “Shikamaru can take you and Koji back to the hotel if you want, or we can get the guest room ready for you. Either way, Lady Tsunade has ordered shinobi to watch wherever you decide to stay.”

Temari thought about this for a minute. “I’ll go back to the hotel,” she said. “I don’t want to inconvenience you, and if there’s going to be people watching us anyway…”

“You wouldn’t be inconveniencing us, Temari,” Shikamaru cut her off. Temari looked at him a little surprised. “You’ll be safer if you guys stay here. There would be more people to protect you two.”

“It’s up to you, Temari,” Shikaku said, which made her look at him. “Though I have to agree with Shikamaru. I think it would be better if you guys stayed here in the guest room.”

“I already made the bed,” Yoshino said as she walked up to them.

“You did?” Temari asked.

“I overheard you guys talking. I don’t know who this man is after, but it’s always smarter to play it safe,” Yoshino said.

“Ok. We’ll stay,” Temari said and turned to Shikaku. “Thank you.”

“No problem,” Shikaku said giving her a small smile.

“I’ll show you where the room is,” Shikamaru said.

Shikamaru lead the way up the stairs and showed Temari where she and Koji would be sleeping, then told her where his room was, and his parents room. After that he bid her goodnight and went to his own room. Now, Temari was laying on the bed in the dark room, her arm over Koji, trying to remember where she had seen that man’s face before. She closed her eyes and racked her brain, until finally it dawned on her.

A clear picture of a man, surrounded by darkness, face lite up by a dim light on only one side. Cold air, something slimy around her wrists and ankles… Temari’s eye shot open. “Kento.”

She threw the blankets off of her and Koji, grabbed Koji, and ran out of the room and straight to Shikamaru’s room. She banged quite loudly on the door, waking Koji up completely. “Mommy?”

She ignored him. “Shikamaru!” She pounded on the door again. She heard a door a ways down open, but focused only on the now opening door.

“Temari? What’s… Hey!” Shikamaru asked as Temari barged into his room.

“What’s going on?” Shikaku asked from the door. He walked in followed by Yoshino who flipped on the light in the room.

“Temari, what’s wrong?” Shikamaru asked as he walked over to her.

“I know who it was,” Temari said quietly. “It was him.”

“Who?” Shikamaru asked completely confused.

“Kento,” she said.

“Who’s Kento?” Shikaku asked stepping closer.

“Temari, let me take him,” Yoshino said as she held out her arms.

Temari hesitated, then handed Koji over to Yoshino. “Mommy,” Koji said reaching back for Temari.

“It’s ok, sweetie,” Yoshino tried to comfort him. “We won’t leave the room. She’ll be right there.”

Koji laid his head on Yoshino’s shoulder, never taking his eyes off Temari.

“Now,” Shikaku said looking back at Temari, “who’s Kento?”

“He’s that man that raped me four years ago,” Temari said, her voice shaking a bit.

“What?” Shikamaru asked. “But I thought you guys took care of him.”

“I thought so too,” Temari said finally sitting on the bed. “Gaara said that they put him somewhere he would never bother me again.”

“It must have been some kind of prison,” Shikaku reasoned. “He must have gotten out somehow.”

Temari looked up at Shikamaru scared. “What if he found out about Koji? What if he’s here to take him? What if…”

“Temari, calm down,” Shikamaru said sitting down and putting a hand around her shoulder.

Temari leaned into Shikamaru’s embrace without thinking. “I can’t lose him, Shika.”

Shikamaru wrapped his arms around Temari and rubbed her back with one hand. “You won’t. I won’t let that happen.” He looked up at his dad.

“I’ll inform Lady Tsunade of this. Maybe she can get some information from the Kazekage about what happened to this Kento guy,” Shikaku said as he walked out the door.

oOo

The next morning, Temari laid next to the warm pillow next to her. She smiled and snuggled closer to it. _‘So warm.’_ Her eyes shot open though when said pillow moved on its own. “What the…” she sat up and saw that Shikamaru was lying next to her. She looked around and realized she was in his room, then she remembered what happened last night. She looked around franticly searching for Koji, but he wasn’t anywhere in the room. “Koji!”

She jumped out of the bed, knocking Shikamaru completely off the bed with a loud thud. “Owww,” Shikamaru cried out rubbing his head as he watched Temari run out of the room. “Troublesome woman.”

Temari ran down the stairs and into the kitchen, mouth ready to tell Yoshino that her son was missing, when her eyes fell on the boy in question. “Koji?”

“Morning, mommy,” Koji said around a big roll.

Temari quickly knelt down and hugged her son.

“I’m sorry, Temari. I didn’t mean to scare you,” Yoshino said. “I saw that Koji was awake, but that you and Shikamaru were still sleeping, and figured I’d bring him down here so he didn’t wake you.”

Temari looked up at her and smiled. “It’s ok. I should’ve known that he was ok. You guys would’ve woke me if something happened to him.”

“Of course we would’ve,” Yoshino said.

“What’s the big idea pushing me off the bed,” Shikamaru asked.

Temari and Yoshino looked up at him and Temari stood up. “Sorry about that. I thought Kento took Koji while I was asleep.”

“Troublesome woman. There are shinobi all over this area, and Koji was in between us when we went to sleep. You would’ve known if something happened to him,” Shikamaru said and sat down across from Koji.

“Morning, Maru,” Koji said with a big crumb covered, jelly smeared smile.

“Oh my,” Yoshino said as she took a rag and wiped off Koji’s mouth.

Koji pushed Yoshino’s hand away, but Yoshino just put it right back on his mouth.

“I’d give up on that, kid,” Shikamaru said. “She always cleans what she sets out to clean.”

Koji just grunted and let Yoshino finish cleaning off his face.

Temari let a small smile spread across her face as she sat down next to Shikamaru. “Thank you for last night,” she said quietly to Shikamaru.

Shikamaru looked over at her. “No problem,” he said with a smile and grabbed her hand underneath the table. Temari blushed.

Yoshino placed two plates of bacon, eggs, and a roll in front of Shikamaru and Temari. “Eat up you two.”

“Thanks,” Shikamaru said before digging into his food.

“Aren’t you going to eat?” Temari asked then took a bite of her food.

“I ate with Shikaku this morning,” Yoshino replied. “He had that meeting with the elders this morning, then he said he was going to talk with Lady Tsunade about this man that was watching you last night.”

“I see,” Temari said looking down at her plate. “I’m sorry for all the trouble.”

“Nonsense,” Yoshino said. “You’re a good friend of Shikamaru’s, and visitor from another village. We wouldn’t want anything to happen to either one of you while you’re here.

“Mommy?”

Temari looked over to Koji. “Yes, sweetie.”

“Gan we go to the parg?”

“Sure we can,” Shikamaru answered for her. Temari looked at him a bit worried. He leaned in closer so Koji couldn’t hear. “We need to keep him calm. Don’t worry, there’ll still be shinobi keeping an eye on you.”

Temari took a deep breath in and smiled. “Yeah, of course we can go to the park.”

“Yay!” Koji said and popped the last of his roll in his mouth. He stood up, took his plate to the sink, then ran to the living room.

“Dad said Lady Tsunade wants me to stay close to you guys too. This Kento guy won’t get anywhere near you guys,” Shikamaru added when Koji left the room.

“Thanks,” Temari said and continued eating.

After their breakfast, Shikamaru, Temari, and Koji all headed to the park. Koji was impressed by the playground equipment, and ran over to the swings. “Maru, push me!” he yelled when he sat down on one of the swings.

“Ok, I’m coming,” Shikamaru said as he made his way over.

Temari found a bench by them and sat down. She scanned her surroundings and noticed the shinobi that were keeping tabs on them. She closed her eyes and let out a long breath trying to calm herself down.

“Hey, Temari.”

Temari jumped at the voice, but saw that it was only Ino. “Oh, hey Ino.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. You ok?” Ino asked as she sat down beside Temari.

“Yeah, I’m just a little on edge right now,” Temari replied.

“What’s going on?” Ino asked concerned.

“Koji was born because I was raped by a man named Kento four years ago,” Temari started. Ino gasped. “Well, last night, I saw Kento staring inside the window while I was at Shikamaru’s house.”

“What?” Ino asked loudly, which caused a few other parents to stare at them. “Sorry,” she said to them, then turned back to Temari. “You’re sure it’s him?” she asked quieter.

“Not positive, but I remember that man’s face. I had nightmares about him for months after the rape,” Temari said. “I can’t forget that face even if I wanted to.”

“Oh man,” Ino said and looked over to Shikamaru and Koji. “Does Koji know?”

“I don’t think so,” Temari said turning towards the boys as well. “If he does, he either doesn’t know how bad the situation is, or knows that we’ll protect him. All Koji really knows about his real father is that he’s a bad guy.”

“Well, at least you have Shikamaru,” Ino said with a sly smile and bumped her shoulder into Temari’s.

Temari smiled back at her. “Yeah,” she said then looked back at Shikamaru. “I’m really glad I do.”

“Wait, does that mean you two are together now?” Ino said excitedly.

“I guess,” Temari said with a blush. “I mean, we haven’t actually said it yet, but…”

“But…” Ino asked eagerly.

“He grabbed my hand this morning,” Temari said, her face getting redder.

Ino squealed. “Oh, I’m so happy for you two!” Ino stood up and grabbed Temari’s hand. “Come on.”

“Hey! Where are you taking me?” Temari asked as she tried not to stumble over her feet.

“Hey, Shikamaru! I’m taking your girlfriend for a while!” Ino yelled ignoring Temari’s question.

Shikamaru looked up and saw Ino dragging Temari away. “Hey… and they’re gone.” He looked down at Koji, who looked a little worried. “Hey, don’t worry. We’ll catch up to her later.”

Koji looked up at him then back toward his disappearing mother. “Ogay.”

Koji played at the park for a few hours before he started complaining that he was hungry, so Shikamaru took him to Ichiraku Ramen. Shikamaru could still feel the shinobi watching them, but he was still at high alert just in case.

When they arrived at Ichiraku’s, they could hear someone speaking really loudly with the owner. “Looks like Naruto’s here,” Shikamaru said.

“Who’s Naruto?” Koji asked.

“Naruto’s one of my friends,” Shikamaru explained as he pushed back the small curtain above the entryway. “He’s a good friend of your Uncle Gaara.”

“Hey Shikamaru,” Naruto said turning to the two. “Who’s this?” he asked looking down at Koji.

“This is Koji,” Shikamaru said as he hoisted Koji up onto one of the stools. “He’s Temari’s son.” Naruto looked at Koji wide eyed then to Shikamaru. “No, he’s not mine,” Shikamaru said anticipating Naruto’s next question.

“If he’s not yours, then why is he with you?” Naruto asked and looked around. “And where’s Temari?”

“Ino took Temari somewhere and I’m watching Koji while she’s gone,” Shikamaru said as he sat down on the stool next to Koji. “Two miso ramens please,” he said to Teuchi.

“Coming right up,” Teuchi said and turned to make the ramen.

“So, you’re Gaara’s nephew, huh?” Naruto asked Koji.

Koji smiled up at Naruto. “Yep! I love Ungle Gaara.”

“How’s Gaara doing?” Naruto asked matching the boy’s smile.

“He’s not hurt,” Koji said confused then looked to Shikamaru. “Right, Maru?”

“No, Gaara’s fine, Koji, but Naruto hasn’t seen Gaara in a while, so he was just seeing how he’s been since he’s last seen him,” Shikamaru explained.

“Oh,” Koji said then looked back to Naruto. “Ungle Gaara is fine.”

“Good to hear,” Naruto said then turned back to his bowl of ramen and took another bite.

“Here you go,” Teuchi said as he sat two bowls of ramen in front of Shikamaru and Koji.

“Thang you,” Koji said then tried to grab a pair of chop sticks, but struggled to grab it so Naruto grabbed it and broke them in half for him. “Thangs,” Koji said to Naruto then grabbed some noodles and stuffed them in his mouth.

They sat there and talked with Naruto for a while longer before Naruto left. When Shikamaru and Koji were finished eating, Shikamaru paid for the food, helped Koji down, and they headed off to find Temari.

“Where we going?” Koji asked as he looked up at Shikamaru.

“We need to figure out where Ino took your mother,” Shikamaru said as he took one hand out of his pocket to cover the yawn that decided to escape his mouth.

“Oh, ogay.” Koji watched Shikamaru’s hand come back down to his side and before Shikamaru had a chance to put it back in his pocket, Koji grabbed his hand. This surprised Shikamaru, but he just smiled and gripped Koji’s hand.

oOo

Temari looked at the clock in the restaurant she was in and noticed that it was a little past noon. _‘Koji will be getting hungry soon, and I’m sure Shikamaru doesn’t want to watch Koji all day.’_ She looked around at the four girls at the table. Ino had kidnapped her to bring her to a surprise congratulatory party. Sakura, Hinata, and Tenten were all waiting here when the two arrived.

“Hey, this has been fun, but I really need to find Shikamaru and Koji,” Temari said.

“Temari, I’m sure Shikamaru can handle watching Koji for a few hours,” Ino said.

“I’d like to meet him,” Tenten said.

“Yes, I’m sure he’s adorable,” Hinata said.

“Well, we don’t have to wait too long,” Sakura said looking at the entrance of the restaurant they were in.

The girls all looked toward the entrance and saw Shikamaru and Koji walk in.

“Mommy!” Koji yelled and ran over to Temari.

Temari smiled and turned in her seat to get ready for his hug. Koji ran right into her arms and she picked Koji up so that he was now sitting her lap. “Guys, this is Koji,” Temari said to the girls. “Koji, this is Sakura, Hinata, Tenten, and you’ve already met Ino,” she said pointing to the respective person.

“Hi,” Koji said with a smile.

“He’s so adorable!” Sakura said.

“He looks a lot like you,” Hinata said.

“Not completely,” Temari said, “but thanks.”

Shikamaru stood by Temari’s side quietly until the introductions were over. “Sorry to interrupt,” he said.

“It’s fine,” Tenten said. “We would’ve lost her soon anyway.”

Sakura saw the look of confusion on Shikamaru’s face. “She was just saying that she needed to get going so she could find you two.”

Temari blushed a little. “I didn’t want to inconvenience you anymore than I already have,” she said trying to explain herself.

Shikamaru sighed. “I told you, Temari, you’re not inconveniencing me. I don’t mind helping you with Koji. You haven’t spent any time with the girls since you got here this time around, so you deserved a little time.”

“Ok,” Temari said then looked down at Koji. “You were good for Shikamaru, right?”

“Yes, mommy,” Koji said. “I met Naruto.”

“Oh boy,” Sakura said with a smile.

“We saw him at Ichiraku’s when we went to eat,” Shikamaru said.

“You didn’t have to feed him,” Temari said. “He could’ve waited until he was back with me.”

“I was hungry too, and I had no idea where you were, so it’s fine,” Shikamaru said putting his hands in his pockets.

“Well, you have an adorable son, Temari,” Tenten said.

“Thanks, Tenten,” Temari said as she put Koji down on the floor and stood up. “We should get going though.”

The girls all exchanged their goodbyes and made Temari promise that they would do it again, then they all went their separate ways, Shikamaru, Temari, and Koji heading to the Hokage’s office to see if they found anything out.

Shikamaru knocked on the door, and entered when Tsunade gave the ok. “Sorry to interrupt, ma’am, but Temari was wondering if you found anything out on our stalker situation,” Shikamaru said.

“Could you not phrase it like that,” Temari said.

“Mommy, what’s a stalger?” Koji asked.

Temari gave Shikamaru a glare before kneeling down to be eye level with Koji. “A stalker is a person who sneaks around and watches someone.”

“Is someone watching us?” Koji asked a little worried.

Temari looked over at Shikamaru then down at Koji. “Yes, sweetie, but I promise we won’t let him hurt you.”

“Maru protegt us?” Koji asked looking at Shikamaru.

Shikamaru smiled. “Yeah. Promise.”

Koji smiled then walked up to his mother and wrapped his arms around her neck.

Temari wrapped her arms around Koji and stood up, positioning him so he was more comfortable, and turned back to Tsunade.

“I’m afraid we haven’t found anything yet,” Tsunade said. “Shikaku is out with a few other shinobi trying to find this man.” She turned to Shikamaru. “I suggest you take Temari and Koji back to your place for now. I received the information about this Kento guy from the Kazekage, and he wants you and Koji to remain in the village until this guy is caught.”

“Alright,” Shikamaru said.

“Dismissed,” Tsunade said then looked down at a few papers on her desk.

Shikamaru and Temari walked out the door and back to his house. As they went through the forested area between the village and Shikamaru’s house, Shikamaru stopped and put his hand in front of Temari to stop her.

“What is it?” Temari asked wrapping her arms around Koji a little more.

“I can’t sense the shinobi that’s been following us all day,” Shikamaru said still looking around.

Temari looked around the area as well. “Neither can I.” She walked a little closer to Shikamaru, making sure Koji was positioned in between them, but jumped back when she sensed something coming toward her.

Shikamaru immediately spun around and saw a kunai sticking out of the ground where Temari was previously standing. He looked up again, trying to sense the person that threw it, but had to jump up and away as a barrage of shuriken came flying at him.

‘ _Dang it, he’s trying to separate me and Temari,’_ Shikamaru thought as he landed on a tree branch and pulled out a kunai from his weapon pouch to deflect a few more kunai.

“Shikamaru!” Temari cried out.

“Don’t worry ‘bout me. Just run!” Shikamaru said as he jumped from branch to branch to try and find the man attacking them.

Temari watched Shikamaru jump off and started running through the trees.

“Mommy,” Koji said scared.

“Shhh, keep quiet,” Temari said. She stopped and jumped back when a kunai whizzed past her face. She looked up and saw the man that she hoped to never see again smiling down at her. “It’s been a while, Temari.”

Temari put Koji on the ground and pushed him behind her. “What are you doing here?”

“I heard about my son,” Kento said as he jumped down from the tree and started walking toward her. “I’ve come to take him.”

“Over my dead body,” Temari said angrily.

“Oh? It’ll really be that easy?” Kento said. He made a quick hand sign and smiled.

Temari slowly reached for her weapon pouch, but stopped when she felt something slimy wrap around both her wrists and her ankles. She looked down and panicked when she saw the all too familiar mud cuff. “No!” she cried out as she tried to break free.

Kento started walking toward her again, but stopped when a kunai dug into the ground in front of him. He looked up in anger and saw Shikamaru drop down.

“You didn’t really think I’d fall for the shadow clone distraction trick, did you?” Shikamaru said as he held up a kunai in front of him in defense.

Kento smirked. “No, I didn’t think it would take you too long to realize I used a shadow clone to draw you away, however,” he began.

Shikamaru looked down and saw mud slide up and around his ankles. He quickly swiped his kunai to cut both mud tendrils, and jumped back closer to Temari.

“Shikamaru, please, take Koji and go,” Temari begged.

“I’m not leaving you here with this man,” Shikamaru said, eyes focused on Kento.

“Shikamaru, please. I don’t want him getting his hands on Koji,” Temari said.

Shikamaru could hear the fear and desperation in Temari’s voice and looked back to Koji who was clinging to Temari’s leg afraid. He looked back at Kento who just stood there and smirked.

“What are you going to do Leaf Ninja?” Kento taunted. “Leave the woman you love, or save her child? Either way, I win.”

Shikamaru saw something moving out of the corner of his eye and looked down to see mud tendrils crawling their way towards them. _‘Dang it. He’s following Temari’s lead now. If I try to save her, the mud will probably grab Koji, but if I take Koji and run, he’ll have Temari.’_ He looked back at Kento who was still smirking and waiting patiently for Shikamaru’s decision. He tightened his grip on the kunai, closed his eyes, and sighed. “I will find you,” Shikamaru said quietly so that only Temari could hear him.

Temari closed her eyes relieved.

Shikamaru quickly turned and grabbed Koji and jumped into the trees.

“Mommy!” Koji yelled, reaching out to Temari as Shikamaru carried him away. “NO! Go bag!” Koji yelled at Shikamaru, hitting Shikamaru’s arm and trying to push it away.

“I’m sorry, Koji, but I have to make sure you’re safe first,” Shikamaru said. He reached into his weapon pouch and pulled out a kunai with a paper bomb attached and threw it up in the air. He knew that someone would see it and know there was a problem, but he also knew that Kento wouldn’t be in the area for very much longer.

oOo

Shikamaru punched the wall.

“Shikamaru,” Yoshino said. She was holding Koji, rocking him back and forth and rubbing his back, trying to calm him down. “That’s not going to help anyone.”

Shikamaru turned around and sighed in frustration. “I should be out there,” he said as he walked to the doorway.

“And do what? You know Kento isn’t going to be there anymore and you know Temari would want you to be here to protect Koji,” Yoshino said.

“Mommy,” Koji said, a new set of tears falling from his eyes. “Mommy, mommy, mommy.”

“Shhhh,” Yoshino said, rocking him and rubbing his back again.

Shikamaru looked over to Koji sadly. He walked over and knelt down in front of Koji and Yoshino. “I will get her back, Koji, I promise.”

Koji looked at Shikamaru. “You promised you’d protect us. You lied,” Koji said and buried his face back into Yoshino’s shirt.

Shikamaru looked down and placed a hand on Koji’s back. “I know. I’m sorry,” he said then looked back at the boy, “but I promise I will get her back, no matter what.”

Koji turned his head to look at Shikamaru’s face. He studied Shikamaru’s face for a few seconds. “Promise?”

“I swear,” Shikamaru said.

Koji laid his head back down on Yoshino’s chest and nodded. “I believe you.”

Shikamaru smiled.

They heard the door open and Shikamaru got up and practically ran to the doorway. He saw his father walk in and close the door.

Shikaku looked up and saw his son staring at him. “They were gone by the time we got there, but we have tracking ninja searching for them.”

“We have to find her, dad,” Shikamaru said as he walked closer to his dad so Koji wouldn’t over hear.

“We will, but according to the Kazekage’s information on this guy, he’s good at hiding his tracks,” Shikaku said. The two walked back to the living room, Koji sitting on Yoshino’s lap waiting expectantly.

“Mommy?” Koji asked hopefully. Yoshino saw the look on Shikaku’s face and wrapped her arms around Koji, pulling him into her embrace. “Mommy,” Koji said again and started crying again.

Shikamaru took one last look at Koji and turned and headed up the stairs to his room.

When Koji saw that Shikamaru was no longer in the room, he panicked and started pushing Yoshino’s arms away. “Maru.”

Yoshino released him and watched as Koji ran out of the room. She got up and followed Koji up the stairs, followed by Shikaku, and watched as Koji ran down the hall, looking in each room until he found Shikamaru.

“Maru!” Koji said as he ran into the room.

Shikamaru looked up a bit surprised to see Koji running toward him, but picked the little boy up and pulled him close to him. “I’m sorry, Koji,” Shikamaru said.

Koji just clung to Shikamaru.

oOo

Shikamaru opened his eyes and immediately looked toward the window to see that it was dark outside. _‘I must have fallen asleep.’_ He looked down and saw that Koji was fast asleep, his head laying on Shikamaru’s chest and his tiny fists clenched around the fabric of his vest. He looked over to his bedroom door and saw that there was still light coming from the downstairs, so he knew his parents were still up, but now he wasn’t sure how to get up without waking Koji.

‘ _Troublesome.’_

He tried to carefully peel Koji’s fists off his vest, but that only made Koji clench his fists tighter around the material. He sighed and tried again, this time successfully removing the tiny hands away from the vest and gently moved Koji’s head down to the bed. He slowly moved to the edge of the bed and got up, pulling a blanket over Koji before he walked to the door and down the stairs.

“Shikamaru,” Yoshino said as she saw her son walk down the stairs. “Koji still asleep?”

“Yeah, though I almost woke him trying to separate him from my vest,” Shikamaru said. He then looked in the living room. “Where’s dad?”

“The shinobi that were tracking Temari came back, but they lost her trail,” Yoshino explained.

Shikamaru sighed. “Do they have any idea where he would take her?”

Yoshino shook her head. “I don’t know. Your father went to the Hokage’s office to try and figure that out.” Shikamaru nodded and took a step toward the door, but Yoshino grabbed his wrist. “Shikamaru, you need to stay here in case Koji wakes up.”

“Mom…” Shikamaru started.

“No,” Yoshino said sternly. Shikamaru turned to face her. “You’re the only one Koji trusts right now. When he saw you left the room earlier, he immediately went to find you.”

“But he was letting you comfort him,” Shikamaru said.

“Yeah, but you were also still in the room. If you had left to try and go after Temari, he would’ve run off, or at least tried to, and I wouldn’t have been able to calm him down. You’re the next closest person that he feels safe with.”

“Ok, I get it,” Shikamaru said. “I won’t leave the house.” He turned and walked into the living room and sat down on the couch.

oOo

It had been almost a week since Temari went missing, and they were no closer to finding her. Koji was sticking to Shikamaru like glue and wouldn’t let him out of his sight at all. Tsunade had taken Shikamaru off the mission roster so that he could stay with Koji until they had found Temari.

Yoshino walked into the living room and saw Shikamaru asleep on the couch with Koji sleeping on top of him, Shikamaru’s hand draped over Koji’s back and smiled. Shikaku walked up behind her and smiled too. “Shikaku, we need to find Temari.”

Shikaku placed his arm around his wife. “We will. Lady Tsunade said that they might have found a clue to where Temari is.”

Yoshino turned to her husband. “Really?”

“Yes, but they haven’t found anything yet.”

She looked back over to her son. “Have you heard anything from Temari’s brothers?”

“Lady Tsunade said that they were going to come get Koji in the next couple days,” Shikaku replied.

“I’m not sure if Koji will want to go with them.”

“They’re his uncles. He’s known them a lot longer than he’s known Shikamaru.”

“Yes, but look how close he’s gotten with Shikamaru,” she said and turned to Shikaku. “He loves Shikamaru, and Temari told me that she’s never seen him get so comfortable with anyone before.”

“We’ll just have to see what happens when…” Shikaku started, but stopped when he heard a knock on the door. Shikaku walked over to the door and opened it. “Kazekage?”

“Hello, Shikaku,” Gaara said.

“We’ve come to get Koji,” Kankuro said.

“Come in,” Shikaku said as he stepped aside for the two men to enter.

As the neared the living room, Yoshino bowed her head. “It’s good to see you again, Lord Kazekage.”

“Please, there is no need to be so formal,” Gaara said with a small smile. “You may call me Gaara when we are here.”

Yoshino smiled. “Would you two like anything?”

“Water if you don’t mind,” Kankuro said. “I’m parched.”

“For me as well,” Gaara agreed.

Yoshino nodded and walked off to the kitchen.

The two sand shinobi walked into the living room and saw Koji sleeping on Shikamaru’s stomach.

“He’s stuck to Shikamaru like glue since Temari was taken,” Shikaku said as he walked past them. He went over and carefully picked Koji up, making Shikamaru jerk awake. “Sorry, son. Gaara and Kankuro are her to pick Koji up.”

Shikamaru looked over to the two and frowned. “I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for, Shikamaru,” Gaara said.

“Yeah, you had to make a tough decision, and I know Temari wanted you to choose Koji over her,” Kankuro reassured him.

“I know,” Shikamaru said as he stood up and placed his hand on the back of Koji’s head. “I just…”

“You have done all that you can,” Gaara said.

“Not everything,” Shikamaru said still focusing on Koji.

“Hey, you had a responsibility to look out for Koji,” Kankuro said.

“And you know that Koji would have never let you go after her. He panicked every time you left the room without him knowing,” Shikaku said.

“Maru?” Koji said as he lifted his head off of Shikaku’s shoulder.

“I’m here, buddy,” Shikamaru reassured him.

Koji turned toward Shikamaru and reached out for him, leaning so fast he almost fell out of Shikaku’s arms.

Shikamaru took Koji in his arms and Koji wrapped his arms around Shikamaru’s neck. He looked over and finally noticed his uncles standing there. “Ungle Gaara. Ungle Ganguro.” He looked behind them. “Mommy?”

Everyone looked at him sadly as Gaara walked over to him. “I’m sorry, Koji. We still haven’t found you mom yet.”

Tears welled up in Koji’s eyes. “Want mommy,” he said and buried his face in Shikamaru’s shirt.

“I know,” Gaara said rubbing the boy’s back.

“We can’t stay too long,” Kankuro reminded Gaara.

“Yes, I know,” Gaara said and started to grab Koji from Shikamaru.

“NO!” Koji yelled and wrapped his arms tighter around Shikamaru’s neck.

“Hey, come on, Koji. It’s your uncle Gaara,” Shikamaru said.

“No. No go. Stay with Maru,” Koji said not looking at anyone.

The men looked at each other. “This could be a problem,” Shikaku stated.

Shikamaru sat back down on the couch and pulled Koji away from him enough to look at him. “Why don’t you want to go with your uncles?”

“I stay with you, Maru. Mommy not find me if I not with you,” Koji said.

Yoshino walked in with a tray of drinks and a plate of cookies. “Your mommy will always find you, Koji,” she said as she sat the tray down on the side table.

Gaara and Kankuro thanked her before grabbing a glass of water. “Yeah, your mom will know your safe with us, kiddo,” Kankuro said and bit into a cookie.

Yoshino sat next to Shikamaru on the couch and handed Koji a cookie, who took it and looked at her. “She will?”

“Yes,” Yoshino said and reached her hand out to cup his face. “A mother will always find her child, no matter where they are.”

Koji laid his head on Shikamaru’s chest and slowly ate the cookie. “No. Not leave.”

“If we try to force him to go with us, he will only throw a fit,” Kankuro said. He sat his now empty glass on the side table and turned and walked to the doorway.

“Where are you going?” Gaara asked.

“Well, if the kid doesn’t want to go with us, then I’m gonna go out and look for Temari,” Kankuro said turning to look at Shikaku. “Where are you looking at the moment?”

Shikaku walked toward him. “I’ll head there with you.” They then both walked out of the living room and out the front door.

“What will you do?” Shikamaru asked Gaara.

“I think I will go to Lady Tsunade’s office and help where I can,” Gaara said turning to leave.

“You don’t have to get back to the village?” Yoshino asked.

“Yeah, Kankuro said you guys couldn’t stay long. Didn’t that mean you had to get back to Suna?” Shikamaru agreed.

“I do, but I am going to see if I can be more help here,” Gaara said before he disappeared around the corner.

Shikamaru and Yoshino looked down at Koji. “Looks like you’ll have more downtime,” Yoshino said.

“Yeah.”

oOo

Temari opened her eyes and saw Kento getting dressed. She tried to move her hands, but the cold steel around her wrists prevented her from doing so.

“So you’re awake,” Kento said with a smile. He pulled the shirt over his head and walked over to her. He leaned down and kissed her, chuckling when she turned her head away from him. “A whole week and you still try to resist me?” he asked.

“I will never give in to you,” Temari bit back.

“I think you will,” Kento stood as he straightened up. “Because soon we’ll be a family.”

Temari’s eyes widened. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m finally going to get our son away from that Leaf Shinobi,” he said as he walked towards the door.

“No, leave him out of this,” Temari yelled as she tried to free her wrists from the chains again.

Kento opened the door, but looked back at her. “I think it’s time Koji met his father.”

“NO!”

oOo

Shikamaru walked downstairs and saw Koji coloring at the kitchen table, Yoshino mixing something in the bowl next to him, and smiled. “What you drawing, kiddo?”

“Maru!” Koji yelled and jumped down from his chair. He ran over to Shikamaru and grabbed his legs.

“I saw him awake when I went past your room and somehow managed to get him to come downstairs with me so he didn’t wake you,” Yoshino said as she stood up from her chair and dumped the contents of the bowl into a pan.

Koji grabbed Shikamaru’s hand and pulled him over to the table. Koji smiled when he saw Shikamaru sit down and got back in his chair and continued coloring. “Maru, you color with me?”

“Sure,” Shikamaru said and grabbed a blank piece of paper and a crayon. “What should I draw?”

Koji smiled wider. “Deer.”

“Deer, huh? Ok.” Shikamaru started drawing on the paper then stopped when he saw Koji go back to his drawing. He saw several stick figures on the paper. “Who you drawing?”

Koji pointed to the small stick figure in the middle. “That’s me,” the blonde stick figure on the right, “that’s mommy,” the stick figure on the left, “that’s you,” and swiped his figure over all the others, “and Ungle Gaara, Ungle Ganguro, Yoshino, and Shigagu.”

“You got the whole gang in there, huh?” Shikamaru smiled, but frowned when he looked at the blonde stick figure.

The lead that they thought they had on Temari turned out to be a bust and they were now back to square one again. _‘Are we ever going to find you?’_

“Maru?” Koji asked worried.

Shikamaru smiled again and ruffled Koji’s hair. “You’re doing a great job. Your mom’s gonna love it when she gets back.”

Koji frowned at the mention of his mom. “Will mommy ever gome home?”

Yoshino looked over at Shikamaru and Koji sadly then stuck the pan in the oven.

Shikamaru didn’t know what to tell him anymore. He was starting to loose hope that they would ever find Temari. It had already been over a week since she disappeared, and the more their leads fell through, the more they were afraid that she was gone forever. “We’re trying to get her back.”

Koji looked sadly back at his picture, then continued to draw on it.

“Say, why don’t you and Shikamaru go to the park today, Koji?” Yoshino said trying to cheer the boy up.

Koji looked up to her and smiled. “Yeah.” He looked over to Shikamaru. “Please, Maru?”

“Yeah, but we have to get dressed first,” he said as he stood up.

“Yay!” Koji yelled, jumped down from his chair, and ran to the stairs.

“Koji! No running in the house!” Yoshino yelled.

“Sorry,” Koji said as he made his way up the stairs.

oOo

Ino walked past the park and smiled at the happy kids playing. She then spotted a familiar black ponytail. “Shikamaru,” she called to him as she walked over to him.

Shikamaru turned and smiled. “Hey, Ino.”

“Distracting Koji from missing Temari again?” she asked as she sat down next to him.

“Yeah,” Shikamaru said a bit sadly.

“Hey, we’ll find her,” she tried to reassure him.

“What if we don’t, Ino? What if Temari is gone?” he asked as he looked toward Koji.

“Then you’ll take care of Koji and raise him the way she would want him to be raised,” Ino said as she looked over at Koji who was running around chasing a few kids.

“Is it really ok for me to take care of him?”

“What kind of question is that?” she asked looking back at him with a glare. “You’re great with Koji.”

“Yeah, but his home is in Suna. He should be with Gaara and Kankuro.”

“If that was true, then he would’ve gone back with them when they came to pick him up.” She placed a hand on his leg, which caused Shikamaru to look at her. “He wants to be with you, Shikamaru. He sees you as his dad.”

“I’m not his dad, Ino. I’m not even related to him.”

“So you don’t love him?” Ino asked as she crossed her arms.

“I didn’t say that.” He looked back at Koji. “I do love him, more than I ever thought I would.”

Ino smiled and lowered her arms. “Temari would be so happy to hear you say that.”

Shikamaru looked over at her and smiled.

“Maru, I’m hungry,” Koji said as he walked up to them.

“I’m getting that way too,” Shikamaru said as he stood up. “What would you like?”

“Ice cream!” Koji said as he grabbed Shikamaru’s hand. They walked toward town, Ino following beside them.

“Sorry, real food first, then ice cream,” Shikamaru said.

“How about barbecue?” Ino suggested. “I can go find Choji and Asuma Sensei and we can all eat together.”

“They’re probably busy,” Shikamaru said.

“No, actually Choji said he was free today, and I saw Asuma Sensei come back from a mission a little while ago.”

“What do you say, Koji? Want some barbecue?” Shikamaru asked looking down at the little boy.

“Yeah,” Koji said happily.

“Great. You two go on ahead and grab a table and I’ll go find Choji and Asuma Sensei,” Ino said and ran off before another word could be said.

Shikamaru and Koji made their way to the barbecue restaurant and found a table. Not long after, Ino, Choji, and Asuma were sitting down with them.

“Hey, Koji,” Choji said as he sat down across from the boy.

“Hi, Choji,” Koji replied. He looked over at Asuma. “Who are you?”

“Koji, this is Asuma. He used to be Choji, Ino, and my sensei when we were younger,” Shikamaru explained.

“Oh. Hi, Asuma.”

“Hello, Koji. It’s nice to finally meet you,” Asuma replied with a smile.

“I’m really surprised he hasn’t seen you yet, Asuma Sensei,” Ino said as she placed some meet on the grill.

“I’ve been out on missions a lot lately, so haven’t had a chance to meet him,” Asuma said.

“You haven’t heard anything while you were out, have you?” Shikamaru asked.

Asuma frowned. “No, I’m sorry.”

“Maru, I’m hungry,” Koji said.

“Ok, here, I think these are done,” Shikamaru said as he pulled a few pieces of meet off the grill and laid them on the plate in front of Koji.

“Thang you,” Koji said and picked up a piece of meet, blew on it, then shoved it in his mouth. “Mmmmm.”

The three adults laughed and dug into their meal as well.

oOo

Shikamaru laid Koji down in the bed and covered him up. He left the room, turning the light out as he went, and headed down the stair. He sighed as he sat down on the couch next to his father.

“Long day?” Shikaku asked amused at how tired Shikamaru was.

“Yeah.” He turned to look at his dad. “Was I ever that energetic?”

Shikaku chuckled. “Not as bad as Koji, but you had your days.”

Shikamaru closed his eyes and laid his head back on the couch. “What happens if we don’t find Temari?”

Shikaku looked over at his son. “Huh?”

Shikamaru looked over at him. “Koji didn’t want to go with Gaara and Kankuro the other day, but he can’t stay here, right?”

“His home is in Suna,” Shikaku said, “but I think he sees you as more than just a friend now.”

Shikamaru looked up at the ceiling. “Yeah, I kind of picked that up too.”

“Didn’t Temari say something about this all started when you filled out some kind of application that Koji made?”

Shikamaru smiled. “Yeah, his Daddy Application.”

“Do you want him to stay with you?”

Shikamaru looked back at his father and lifted his head off the couch. “Yeah, but I know that Gaara and Kankuro would want him to be with them.”

“So you would force Koji to go live somewhere he doesn’t want to be?”

“That’s why I don’t know what to do. I want him to stay here, but I don’t want to take him from Gaara and Kankuro.”

Shikaku placed his hand on Shikamaru’s shoulder. “I think you have better contact Gaara and talk with him about this.”

“But if we do that, then that means we’re pretty much giving up on Temari ever coming back.”

“I think we both know that the chance of finding her are getting slimmer. We’ve looked non-stop for her since her disappearance, and we haven’t been able to find a reliable lead that pans out. I think it’s safe to say…”

Shikamaru looked at his father when he stopped. “What?”

Shikaku stood up. “Someone’s in the house.”

“What?” Shikamaru stood up and looked toward the stairs. “Koji.” He dashed off to his room, Shikaku following behind, and burst through his bedroom door. He looked to the bed, but saw that it was empty, then looked at the man at the window holding a sleeping Koji. “Kento,” he said angrily as he pulled a kuni from his weapons pouch.

Kento smiled at him then quickly jumped out the window.

Shikaku ran toward the window and jumped out, Shikamaru close behind. They ran through the forest, Kento in clear view.

“He’s not getting away,” Shikamaru said and sped up his pace.

No matter how fast he ran, the Nara men could not catch up to Kento. They stopped in a clearing and looked around. “Where is he?” Shikamaru asked panting.

“I don’t sense his chakra anywhere.”

Shikamaru walked over to a tree at the edge of the clearing. “No!” he said as he punched the tree and feel to his knees. “No.”

Shikaku walked up to him and placed his hand on Shikamaru’s shoulder. He looked around the area. “I know where they are.”

Shikamaru looked up at his dad surprised. “What?” He stood up. “How? Where are they?”

“Take a look around,” Shikaku said.

Shikamaru looked around the area. He couldn’t figure out what his dad was talking about, but then he spotted it. A small shimmer was floating in the air.

“This is how he’s evaded us for so long.”

“A cloaking jutsu,” Shikamaru stated.

“Not only that, but also a barrier that allows objects to pass right through it unless they know the hand sign to get in,” Shikaku added.

Shikamaru walked over to the shimmer. “How can we get in?” He looked back at his dad.

“We have to get back to the village,” Shikaku said. “Now that we know where his is, we need the one person that can get through this barrier.”

Shikamaru looked back at the shimmer one last time then followed his father back to the village.

oOo

Kento walked in the bedroom, carried Koji over to the bed, and laid him down next to Temari.

“Koji!” Temari exclaimed. She glared up at Kento. “What did you do to him?”

“Nothing. He’s just sleeping.” He walked around to Temari’s side of the bed and undid one of the cuffs. “I’ll let you have one hand free so you can hold him, but if you try anything…” He turned around, leaving the threat hanging there in the air, and left the room.

Temari looked down at her son. “Koji,” she said gently shaking him.

Koji stirred and rubbed his eyes. “Mommy?” He opened his eyes fully and saw his mother staring down at him with a smile on her face. “Mommy!” He quickly got up and jumped into his mother’s arm.

Temari closed her eyes and held Koji closely. She loosened her grip on him and looked down at his smiling face. “Are you alright?”

Koji nodded. “Yeah, Maru tage good gare of me.”

Temari let a tear run down her cheek. “I’m sure he did.”

“Mommy?” Koji asked concerned when he saw the tear roll down Temari’s cheek.

“I’m ok, baby. I’m just so glad to see you,” Temari reassured him.

Koji looked around the room then back at his mother. He saw that she had no clothes on. “Why you naged?”

Temari blushed a bit. “That doesn’t matter, sweetie.”

The door opened and Kento walked back in carrying a tray of food. “Thought you might be hungry. I was gone almost all day.” He sat the trey on Temari’s lap.

“Who are you?” Koji asked.

Kento smiled at him. “I’m your father, Koji.”

“Father?” He turned to Temari. “This bad man?”

Kento grunting and glared at Temari. “You told our son that I was a bad man?”

“Of corse I did. You are a bad man,” Temari said defensively.

Kento slapped Temari across the face.

“Mommy!” Koji cried out in fear.

Temari looked back at Kento and glared. “My point,” she said.

Kento grabbed Temari’s free hand and pulled her to him, causing her other arm to twist in a painful way and making her cry out. “How dare you turn my son against me.”

“No!” Koji yelled and started hitting Kento. “Let mommy go!”

“Koji, don’t,” Temari said afraid of what Kento would do.

Kento let Temari go and grabbed one of Koji’s wrists. “I am your father, boy. You will respect me.”

Temari grabbed Kento’s wrist. “Let him go.”

Kento looked over at Temari, grabbed her hand with his free one and pulled it off him. He then pulled Koji until he fell off the bed and tossed him on the floor.

“No, Koji,” Temari said, but turned her attention back to Kento when he threw the trey to the other side of the bed and crawled on top of her and starting kissing her. “No, get off.”

Koji looked over at them scared. “Mommy?”

Temari looked over at Koji then over to the door. “Koji, get out of her. Please.”

Koji just stared there horrified at what Kento was doing to his mother. “Mommy.” Tears feel from his eyes.

“Koji,” Temari said a little louder than she meant to since Kento was now sucking on one nipple and pinching the other, “go!”

Koji stood up and ran toward the door and out.

Kento lifted his head and watched the boy run. “That won’t do any good. I locked the place up. He’s not going anywhere.”

“Don’t you ever touch me with him in here again,” Temari said.

Kento looked back at her. “You are in no position to tell me what to do.” He took his now unclothed penis and rammed it into her, causing her to cry out.

oOo

“What? You really found out where Temari is being held?” Tsunade asked.

“Yes, ma’am,” Shikaku replied. “He is about twenty minutes outside of the village.”

“What? But we looked around the village,” Shizune said.

“He has a cloaking barrier hiding them,” Shikaku replied.

“But how did you find him so suddenly?” Tsunade asked.

“He broke into our home. Shikamaru and I went after him, but he disappear in a small clearing in the forest. That’s when I noticed the barrier,” Shikaku said.

“Where is Shikamaru now?” Shizune asked.

Shikaku turned to Shizune. “He went to get Naruto.”

“Naruto?” Tsunade and Shizune asked at the same time.

“He’s the only one with enough power to break through a barrier like that.”

“I see,” Tsunade said. “Very well. Owl.”

A man dressed in a grey shinobi outfit and an owl mask suddenly appeared, kneeling before the hokage. “My lady?”

“Gather more anbu and go with Shikaku. Get Temari back, and take this Kento guy into custody,” Tsunade ordered.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said before he disappeared as quickly as he appeared.

Tsunade looked back at Shikaku. “Bring them back.”

“Of corse.”

oOo

Shikamaru dropped down into the clearing, Naruto joining behind him. “Why’d we stop?” Naruto asked.

Shikamaru turned to Naruto. “This is where the barrier is.” He turned and walked over to the faint shimmer in the middle of the clearing. “Here.”

Naruto walked over and stood by Shikamaru. He squinted his eyes and saw a small shimmer that distorted the background behind it. “Wow, how did you even see this?”

“It was actually dad that noticed it first,” Shikamaru replied.

“Oh. So, what was it you needed me to do?”

“Dad and I think that if you use your Massive Rasengan, you should be able to break through the barrier.”

“Massive Rasengan? Ok, I can give it a shot,” Naruto said and took a few steps back. He summoned a shadow clone and quickly made a Rasengan. He then had his clone pour more chakra into it until it became a huge ball of chakra. “Alright, here it goes. Massive Rasengan!” he yelled as he jumped and landed the Rasengan on the shimmer.

The Rasengan collided with the shimmer, making the chakra spark from the impact. After a few seconds the Rasengan dispersed. They both looked at the shimmer, but it didn’t look any different. “You’ll have to try again,” Shikamaru said.

“Right,” Naruto exclaimed and backed up to repeat the process.

Shikaku landed in the clearing and walked up to the two. “Any progress?”

“We only had time to try it once, but nothing happened,” Shikamaru explained.

“Massive Rasengan!” Naruto once again jumped and put a little more force into the hit this time.

Shikaku and Shikamaru watched the chakra spark against the shimmer, and noticed that it got a little longer. “It’s working,” Shikamaru said happily.

“Naruto, focus your chakra a little more,” Shikaku instructed.

“Got it!” he replied and let out a yell to release more chakra and focus it.

The shimmer cracked again and got a little longer.

Inside the cabin, Kento looked up to the ceiling and frowned.

“You underestimated the Leaf Shinobi,” Temari said with a smirk.

“Mommy!” Koji cried as he ran in to the room and over to Temari.

Temari reached over with her free hand and placed it around Koji. “It’s ok, Koji. Shikamaru and his friends are just trying to get to us.”

“That’s not going to happen,” Kento said as he got off the bed and ran out the door.

Koji watched Kento run out of the room then turned to Temari. “Maru save us?”

Temari smiled down at him. “Yes, Shikamaru is coming to save us.” She looked around and found her forgotten clothes on the ground. “Koji, can you bring mommy her clothes?” she asked as she pointed to the pile of clothes in the corner.

Koji nodded and ran over and grabbed the clothes. He sat them down on Temari’s lap. “Here you go.”

“Thanks, sweetie.” She rummaged through the clothes until she found her weapon pouch. She pulled out a small object and brought it up to the cuff. She struggled with it for a minute until it finally popped open. “Finally,” she said as she brought her now free hand and rubbed it with the other. She quickly got up and dressed herself.

Koji turned to look at the ceiling when he heard another loud noise. He stepped closer to Temari and clasped onto her leg.

Temari finished pulling her shirt down and reached down and picked Koji up. She walked over to the window, unlocked it, but when she tried to lift it, it wouldn’t budge. “Dang it,” she said and turned toward the door.

“We stug, mommy?” Koji asked while looking at the window.

“Yeah, but we’ll get out,” Temari said. She walked over to the door and pulled it open until it was cracked and peeked through. She didn’t see Kento and pulled the door open a little more, enough to stick her head out. She saw that it was a hallway and quietly walked out. “I need you to stay very quiet, ok?”

Koji just nodded.

She carefully made her way down the hall, peeking around the corner when she got to the end of it. It led into a small living room with a couch and a tv and a few potted plants. _‘Guess he doesn’t entertain much.’_

They heard another loud bang on the roof which caused both of them to look up, Koji wrapping his arms around Temari’s neck a little tighter. Temari moved toward the door she assumed was the exit, but when she tried to open it, it wouldn’t budge. “Dang it. He must have some kind of jutsu on the windows and doors.” _‘If he did that, why the heck did he keep me in those dang chains?’_

She moved over to the window and looked out, hoping to see Shikamaru or whoever was attacking, but all she saw was a blurred forest. _‘Must be some kind of barrier. No wonder it took them this long to find me.’_ She looked around and saw a few scrolls tossed on a table. She walked over to them, put Koji on the ground, who quickly latched onto her leg when he heard another loud crash, and opened one of the scrolls. She skimmed through it, but didn’t see anything, so she closed it and started on the next one. She looked through a few more before she finally found what she was looking for.

Another loud crash resinated through the cabin and the walls shook a bit. “Mommy,” Koji said afraid and buried his head in her legs.

Temari reached down and placed a hand on the back of Koji’s head without turning away from the scroll. “It’s ok, Koji.”

“Maru?” he asked as he looked up at her.

“Yeah, it’s just Maru trying to get past the barrier.” She sat the scroll down and walked over to the door, Koji quickly following.

Temari closed her eyes and focused her chakra. She made a few hands signs and a bright light appeared around the door. When it went away, she reached down and turned the knob and it opened easily. “Yes,” she said and quickly picked Koji up and made her way out the door.

She looked around, but again all she saw was the blurred forest around her. She looked up at the area where the loud noise came from and saw a long sliver of light. “That must be where they’re trying to break in through,” she looked around again, “but where the heck did Kento go?”

A loud crack sounded through the barrier and she heard what sounded like glass shattering. Temari and Koji looked up and saw Naruto falling down toward the cabin. “Naruto!” Koji yelled out as he pointed to the blonde boy.

Temari looked around and saw that the barrier was falling to the ground and spotted Shikamaru and Shikaku. She smiled and ran towards them.

Koji looked over when he saw his mother running away from him and spotted Shikamaru as well. “Maru!” He dashed after his mother and ran straight to Shikamaru, plowing into his legs.

Shikamaru smiled at Temari, who stopped in front of him, then knelt down and hugged Koji. “I’m sorry I let him grab you, Koji,” he said quietly.

Koji looked up at him, his smile not wavering. “It’s ogay. You here now.” He then wrapped his arms around Shikamaru’s neck.

Shikamaru picked him up and walked closer to Temari. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” she replied. “Thank you for taking care of Koji.”

“He wouldn’t leave Shikamaru’s side,” Shikaku said as he walked up to them.

Temari looked towards the older man. “Really?” She looked over to Koji who was now resting his head on Shikamaru’s shoulder. She smiled. “He really has taken a liking to you.”

“Yeah,” Shikamaru said.

The anbu wearing the owl mask dropped down behind Temari, which caused her to quickly turn around. “Sir, there is no sign of the man who captured Lady Temari and her son.”

“I didn’t sense him after he ran out when he heard Naruto attacking the barrier,” Temari said. She then looked over to Koji. “He’s going to come after us again, I know it.”

Another anbu with a bird mask landed next to the one in the owl mask and whispered into his ear. Once he was finished he disappeared instantly.

“Report,” Shikaku said.

“We have found his trail and are pursuing him,” the owl responded.

Temari looked at the owl. “Please get him. I don’t want him to come anywhere near Koji again.”

The owl nodded and disappear to join the rest of the anbu chasing Koji.

“Let’s head back to the village,” Shikaku said and turned to leave.

Shikamaru looked around the area. “Hey, where did Naruto go?”

“He went into the forest. I saw that he was in his sage mode, so he probably picked up Kento’s chakra before the anbu did and went after him,” Shikaku said, not turning around.

Shikamaru and Temari quickly caught up to him. “So he’s as good as caught,” Shikamaru said.

Shikaku only smiled.

They made their way to Tsunade’s office, and when they got the ok to come in, Tsunade smiled when she saw Temari. “Temari, it’s good to see you’re ok.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” Temari said smiling back.

Tsunade looked over to Shikamaru and saw Koji sleeping. “Is he alright?”

“Yeah,” Shikamaru said, “he just fell asleep on the way back to the village.

“It is pretty late,” Temari said.

Tsunade came over and looked him over. “Did Kento do anything to him?”

“Not that I know of,” Temari said. “Kento was with me pretty much the entire time.”

Tsunade nodded then turned to Temari. “And what about you?”

Temari looked down and a slight blush appeared on her face. “I’ll be fine, although…”

“What’s wrong?” Shikamaru interrupted worried.

Temari looked over at him sadly. “He used no protection when he was…” she couldn’t finish.

“You want to check and see if he got you pregnant again,” Tsunade asked matter-of-factly.

Temari turned back to Tsunade. “It only took the one time before,” she stated sadly.

Shikaku placed his hand on Shikamaru’s shoulder. “Why don’t we take Koji back to the house.”

Shikamaru looked at his dad then down at Koji. “Yeah.” He looked up at Temari. “Will you be ok walking back to the house by yourself, or do you want me to come with you?”

Temari blushed a little harder. “I… If you don’t mind, I don’t really want to walk alone in the dark with Kento still out there.”

Shikamaru nodded and handed Koji carefully over to his father. Koji stirred a bit, but didn’t wake up. “I’ll take care of him,” Shikaku said to Temari.

“Thank you,” Temari said bowing her head a little.

After Shikaku left, Shikamaru and Temari walked to the hospital to have some check her out. Shikamaru looked over at Temari then down at her hand. He reached over and grabbed it.

Temari looked down at their hand then up at Shikamaru who wasn’t looking at her. She smiled and moved closer to him. “Thank you.”

Shikamaru looked at her. “For what?”

“Just for being here.” She laid her head on his shoulder the best she could. “You took care of Koji while I was gone.”

“There’s no need to thank me. Koji was taken because I wasn’t paying attention. If dad hadn’t sensed him, we wouldn’t have even known he had taken him.”

Temari lifted her head and looked at him. “He let you sense him?”

Shikamaru stopped and turned to her. “What do you mean ‘let me sense him?’”

“Kento can completely mask his chakra. He did it years ago when I met him in that cave, and he did it when he snuck up on us in the forest. If your dad sensed him when he took Koji, that means he let you know that he was taking him.”

Shikamaru looked down in thought. “So, he wanted us to know he was taking Koji, and he also let us follow him.” He looked up at her. “But why would he do that?”

Temari laid her head back on his shoulder and pulled him to start walking again. “I don’t know. I think he wanted you to know. He wasn’t too happy that I like you.”

Shikamaru looked down at her again, but returned his gaze forward. They remained quiet the rest of the way there.

After they arrived, Sakura took them to a room, got the urine sample from Temari, and they were now waiting for her to return with the results. Temari was sitting on the edge of the bed, Shikamaru sitting next to her.

Shikamaru looked over to her, took a deep breath, gently grabbed her chin and turned her face to him. He leaned in a captured her lips before she had the chance to protest. He moved his hand from her chin and around to the back of her neck, deepening the kiss when she opened her mouth.

She placed her hand on his chest and felt his heart beating fast. She smiled in the kiss and pulled back. “Nervous?” she teased.

Shikamaru blushed and turned his head away. “Troublesome woman.”

Temari chuckled and this time she was the one to turn his head and kiss him. They lost themselves in the kiss and didn’t notice when Sakura walked in the room.

“Sorry it took so long, I…” Sakura started but stopped when she saw the two kissing. She blushed. “Should I have knocked first?” she said with a smile.

Shikamaru and Temari pulled away from each other, blushes heavy on their faces. “What did you find out?” Temari finally asked.

Sakura walked toward them, the smile not leaving her face. “It came back negative.”

“Really?” Temari asked.

“Yes, I double checked just to make sure we weren’t getting a false negative, that’s why I took so long, but both times it came back negative.”

Shikamaru grabbed Temari’s hand and smiled at her.

Temari sighed in relief. “Thank goodness.”

“I would suggest doing another test in a couple weeks just to make sure that we didn’t do the test too early for it to detect, but I think you’re safe,” Sakura said.

“Thank you,” Temari said as she and Shikamaru stood up.

“Any time,” Sakura said.

Temari looked over at Shikamaru and leaned in to him. Shikamaru smiled and wrapped his free hand around her. “We should get back to the house. If Koji wakes up and doesn’t see either one of us, he’ll become real troublesome for mom and dad.”

Temari pulled away from him and nodded. “Yeah.”

They made it back home and told Shikaku and Yoshino the good news and headed up to Shikamaru’s room where Shikaku laid Koji down. They both laid down on either side of him, draping their arms over him protectively and fell asleep.

oOo

The next morning, they saw Naruto who told him that they found Kento and he was not safely locked up, waiting for the transfer to a more secure prison in the Land of Fire.

Over the next several days, Shikamaru and Temari began to get more comfortable with their new status as a couple, and Koji had decided to start calling Shikamaru daddy Maru. This surprised Shikamaru at first, but he realized that he didn’t mind and actually like Koji calling him daddy.

They were now sitting in the meadow, watching Koji run through the flowers. Shikamaru was laying down, his head in Temari’s lap, with his eyes closed. Temari reached behind her and pulled out a piece of paper.

“I’m glad he made that,” Shikamaru said.

Temari moved the paper and saw that Shikamaru was now looking up at her. She smiled. “I am too.” She looked over at Koji and frowned. “He’s not going to want to leave tomorrow.”

Shikamaru sat up and moved to sit next to her. “I don’t think he’s the only one that won’t want to leave tomorrow.”

Temari smiled and turned to him. “And who would that be?”

Shikamaru rolled his eyes and looked away from her. “Troublesome wo…” he started, but couldn’t finish his famous phrase because there was a pair of lips suddenly on his.

Temari pushed him down on the ground and deepened the kiss as Shikamaru wrapped his arms around her. They stopped only when they heard a small giggling sound coming from beside them.

“And just what is so funny?” Temari asked.

“Mommy and daddy,” he stated still giggling.

Shikamaru sat up a bit, causing Temari to move off of him, and he grabbed Koji and pulled him on his lap. “Oh really? Are we really funny?” he asked as he started tickling the boy.

“Stop! Stop!” Koji squealed with laughter.

Temari joined in and started kissing Koji all over the face.

“Stop it, mommy! No kissy face!”

Temari leaned back. Shikamaru also stopped tickling the boy. He leaned down and whispered something in Koji’s ear and the boy nodded his head and got up and ran off.

“More secrets?” Temari said as she watched her son picking flowers.

“Yep,” Shikamaru said, also watching Koji.

When Koji came back, he had a big group of different flowers and handed them to his mother. “For you, mommy.”

Temari took the flowers. “Thank you, sweetie. They’re lovely.”

Koji looked over to Shikamaru who nodded at him. He looked back at Temari and smiled. “Will you marry daddy now?”

Temari was shocked at what he just asked, but before she could get mad at him, she noticed that Shikamaru was now holding up something that sparkled in the sunlight. It was a small diamond on a silver band.

She sucked in a breath and looked up at Shikamaru. “Well, you gonna answer his question?”

Temari just sat there wide-eyed, before she smiled and threw herself onto him, kissing him fiercely as they landed on the ground. When she pulled away, Temari had tears rolling down her face and the biggest smile Shikamaru had ever seen on her face. “Yes.”

Shikamaru smiled and kissed her again as he sat back up. He then broke off the kiss, took Temari’s hand, and slid the ring on her finger. He then turned to Koji and ruffled his hair.

“Yay! Yay! Yay!” Koji exclaimed as he jumped up and down. He then grabbed Shikamaru around the neck and hugged him.

Temari also leaned into Shikamaru, and Shikamaru placed his arms around both of them. She looked down at the ring on her finger. “It’s so beautiful, Shikamaru.”

“It’s been in my family for a long time,” he said.

She looked up at him. “So you got it from your mother?”

“Yeah, when I told her I wanted to marry you, she took the ring off her finger and told me to use it.”

Temari looked back at the ring. “I’ll have to thank her.”

Shikamaru smiled. “Yeah.”

“We stay with daddy now?” Koji asked looking over at Temari. He was now sitting in Shikamaru’s lap.

Temari looked at him sadly. “We still have to go back to Suna tomorrow,” she said, but quickly continued when she saw the tears welling up in his eyes, “but we won’t be there for long. We’ll have to come back so we can start planning the wedding.”

Koji smiled. “Ok,” he said and looked up at Shikamaru. “We go, but we come back soon.”

Temari sat up straight. “Koji, you just said your K sounds correctly.”

Koji looked over at her with a huge smile and nodded. “Daddy helped me.”

Temari looked at him. “When did you have time to do that?”

“When Ino and the other girls kidnapped you yesterday, I asked Koji if he wanted to practice his K sounds. We worked on for at least an hour before he finally got it, didn’t we, buddy?”

“Yeah, I finally got it,” Koji said happily.

Temari pulled Koji over to her and hugged him. “I’m so proud of you.”

Koji snuggled into Temari.

“You should’ve heard him. After he figured it out, he went up to dad and said his name, stressing the Ks. It was funny,” Shikamaru said chuckling a bit.

“I bet.” She looked back at Koji. “You’ll surprise your uncles too.”

Koji looked up at her. “Yeah, I’m gonna surprise Uncle Gaara and Uncle Kankuro.”

Temari laid her head on Shikamaru’s shoulder, closed her eyes and smiled. _‘Everything is perfect now.’_


End file.
